BV  4501  .M8  S6  1897 
Murray,  Andrew,  1828-1917 
The  spiritual  life 


The 

Spiritual 

Life 


by 
Andrew 
Murray 


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PREFACE. 


Rev.  Andrew  Murray's  writings  have  been  mucli 
blessed  to  thousands  in  this  and  other  lands ;  when 
he  came  to  America,  in  the  summer  of  1895,  earnest 
prayers  were  going-  up  from  many  hearts  that  his 
platform  utterances  might  be  even  more  abundantly 
blessed.  God  heard  and  answered,  and  the  heart 
and  lips  of  His  humble  servant  were  wonderfully 
touched  with  the  divine  fire. 

It  was  our  privilege  to  listen  to  the  Chicago  lec- 
tures, and  to  gather  stenographic  reports  for  publi- 
cation, with  a  view  to  passing  the  "spoken  word" 
to  many  who  were  deprived  of  the  privilege  of  lis- 
tening to  this  man  of  God. 

We  send  these  printed  pages  forth,  the  most  of 
which  have  been  personally  revised  by  Mr.  Murray, 
with  a  prayer  that  God  may  use  them  to  His  glory 
in  bringing  blessing  to  many  hearts. 

The  Publishers. 


CONTENTS. 


Carnal  or  Spiritual 1 

Seven  Blessings 14 

The  Fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  Love 29 

The  Self-life  the  Hindrance  to  the  Spiritual  Life 41 

The  Holy  Spirit  in  Ephesians    58 

Be  Filled  with   the   Spirit —(1st  lecture) 73 

Praying  in  the  Power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 89 

The  Holy  Spirit  in  Galatians 103 

Be  Filled  with   the   Spirit  — (2nd  lecture) 116 

Christ  Bringing  Us  to  God 129 

Christ  Liveth  in  Me  142 

The  Heavenly  Treasure  in  the  Earthen  Vessel 158 

Willing  and  Doing 173 

Yield  Yourselves  Unto  God 193 

Jesus  Able  to  Keep 210 

The  Life  of  Rest 230 


THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 


Carnal  or  Spiritual. 


'Jf^HROUGHOUT  the  church  of  Christ  there  is  a 
^^  universal  complaint  of  the  feebleness  of  the 
Christian  life,  and  there  are  tens  of  thousands  of 
souls  long-ing-  to  know  how  to  lead  a  better  life. 
They  find  in  God's  word  promises  of  perfect  peace, 
of  a  faith  that  overcomes  the  world,  of  a  joy  that  is  un- 
speakable, of  a  life  of  ever  abiding-  communion  with 
Christ,  hidden  in  the  hollow  of  God's  hand,  and  in 
the  secret  of  his  pavilion.  But  alas,  thousands  say 
they  know  not  how  to  obtain  it.  Our  meetings 
have  just  this  one  object:  to  try  and  find  out  what 
are  the  possibilities  of  the  Christian  life  as  God 
has  revealed  them  in  His  word,  what  are  the  hind- 
rances that  keep  the  majority  of  believers  out  of 
that  life,  and  what  are  the  steps  by  which  to  come 
in  and  take  possession. 

I  want  to  beg-in  by  calling  your  attention  to  what 
is  always  important  at  the  outset  of  these  confer- 
ences. There  are  two  stag-es  in  the  Christian  life: 
the  lower  stag-e  under  the  power  of  the  flesh,  and 
the  stage  of  the  true  life  in  the  power  of  the  Spirit. 
Let  me  direct  your  attention  to  a  passage  in  1  Cor, 
3:  1-4. 


2  THE   SPIRITUAL,    LIFE. 

There  you  have  the  first  sorted  Christians,  some 
are  spiritual  and  some  are  carnal.  And  Paul  says 
he  finds  it  of  the  utmost  importance,  when  he 
teaches  people,  to  find  out  which  of  the  two  they 
are;  for  if  he  g-ave  what  is  food  to  the  spiritual  to 
the  carnal  it  would  not  do  them  any  good.  "I 
could  not  speak  unto  you  as  unto  spiritual,  but  as 
unto  carnal,  even  as  unto  babes  in  Christ."  You 
are  in  Christ,  you  are  real  Christians,  but  alas,  you 
are  feeble  Christians,  just  like  infants.  "  I  have  fed 
you  with  milk  and  not  with  meat. "  There  are  some 
truths  that  are  just  like  milk,  suitable  for  carnal 
Christians;  other  truths  of  God's  word,  deep  spirit- 
ual truths,  are  for  spiritual  people.  "  For  hitherto 
ye  were  not  able  to  bear  it,  neither  yet  now  are  ye 
able  for  ye  are  yet  carnal."  There  you  have  the 
word  "carnal"  again.  He  says  plainly,!  want  you 
to  know  that  you  are  carnal,  believers,  but  carnal 
believers,  "For,"  here  comes  the  proof,  "For 
whereas  there  is  among-  you  envying  and  strife,  and 
divisions,  are  ye  not  carnal,  and  walk  as  men?"  He 
asks  them  to  answer  the  question.  The  word  "car- 
nal" comes  from  the  Latin  word  meaning  "flesh." 
If  you  do  the  works  of  the  flesh  this  proves  you  are 
carnal,  you  walk  as  men  do,  not  as  children  of  God 
do,  who  lead  a  heavenly  life.  "One  says  I  am  of 
Paul,  and  another,  I  am  of  Apollos;  are  ye  not 
carnal?"  For  the  fourth  time  you  have  the  word 
"carnal"  and  for  the  second  time  the  very  pointed 
question  for  them  to  answer  "  Tell  me,  are  ye  not 

carnal?" 

By  the  help  of  God  I  shall  speak  to  you  upon 
these  two  points. 


CARNAL   OR   SPIRITUAL.  3 

/.      What  it  is  to  be  not  Spiritual  but  Carnal. 
2.     The  Way  From  Carnal  to  Spiritual. 

I.     NOT  SPIRITUAL  BUT  CARNAL. 

1.  You  are  not  spiritual  but  carnal,  the  apostle 
says.  I  am  desirous  that  everyone  as  we  g-o  along- 
try  himself  and  answer  the  question,  "Am  I  still 
carnal,  or  am  I  by  the  grace  of  God  spiritual?" 
You  know  a  doctor  cannot  do  you  any  g-ood  unless 
there  is  first  a  thorough  diagnosis  of  the  case.  He 
asks  a  number  of  questions,  examines  your  lungs 
and  heart,  finds  out  what  is  wrong  and  prescribes 
the  needful  remedy.  Until  you  find  out  what  is 
wrong  all  the  preaching  of  the  most  heavenly 
truths  will  do  you  no  good.  People  must  be 
brought  to  the  realizing  of  their  carnal  state  ere  the 
knowledge  of  the  spiritual  life  can  be  any  real  ben- 
efit. 

"Oh  God,  we  pray  Thee,  reveal  the  mystery  of 
the  Divine  truth;  the  mystery  of  our  own  hearts, 
and  the  carnal  state;  the  mystery  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  the  spiritual  life.  We  pray  Thee  now  to  come 
in  and  teach  us.  Give  us  grace  to  say,  'Lord 
search  me,  and  if  I  am  carnal,  oh,  discover  it  today, 
and  open  up  to  me  the  way  into  the  spiritual  life, 
to  live  as  a  spiritual  man.     God  grant  it." 

I  think  if  we  look  carefully  at  this  passage  we 
shall  find  four  principal  marks  of  the  carnal  state. 

1.  It  is  a  state  of  protracted  infanc}^  If  I  had 
here  today  a  beautiful  little  child  six  months  old 
with  its  chubby  hands  and  feet,  you  would  say 
"What  a  perfect  child,"  but  if  in  three  years'  time 
we  found  that  the  child  had  not  grown  an  inch  we 


4  THK   SPIRITUAI.    I<1FE. 

should  conclude  that  something  was  the  matter. 
If  in  another  three  years  we  again  found  no  growth, 
we  should  at  once  say  there  is  some  terrible  disease 
in  that  child  that  prevents  its  growth,  for  where 
there  is  health  there  is  growth.  That  is  now  what 
Paul  says  to  the  Corinthians.  You  are  young 
Christians,  babes  in  Christ.  At  first  a  Christian 
may  be  carnal  for  he  is  young  and  does  not  know 
what  sin  is,  but  when  a  man  has  been  a  Christian 
for  sometime,  say  after  six  months,  a  year  or  three 
years,  or  even  ten  years,  and  he  does  not  grow,  but 
remains  at  the  same  place  where  he  started  from  as 
a  babe,  there  is  something  the  matter;  there  is  some 
terrible  disease;  that  disease  is  the  carnal  mind.  A 
Christian  when  under  the  power  of  the  flesh  is  in  a 
state  of  protracted  infancy.  You  find  it  said  in  the 
epistle  to  the  Hebrews  that  when  after  they  had 
been  so  long  Christians  they  ought  to  be  teachers, 
helping  others,  they  still  had  to  be  fed  with  milk 
and  were  not  able  to  take  the  meat  of  the  full  grown 
man.  This  is  a  state  of  protracted  infancy  and  it  is 
the  state  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Christian  church. 
How  many  there  are  who  will  testify  that  the  best 
time  was  the  first  three  months  after  conversion;  and 
after  that  they  began  to  go  back;  they  lost  their  joy 
and  alas,  they  have  never  had  such  joy  since  then. 
They  havelosttheir  first  love.  At  that  time  they  used 
to  conquer  sin,  but  now  it  has  the  mastery.  What 
are  the  marks  of  a  babe?  One  is  the  babe  cannot 
help  himself,  he  has  got  to  be  helped  by  others. 
The  other, he  cannot  help  anyone  else.  Look  at  a 
baby  in  a  house,  you  have  got  to  have  mother  or 
sister  or  nurse  to  take  care  of  him.      A  little  baby 


CARNAL   OR   SPIRITUAL-  5 

needs  always  to  be  helped  and  cared  for.  That  is 
the  way  with  many  Christians.  They  go  to  church, 
to  prayer-meeting-s,  conferences,  and  are  ever  seek- 
ing help  from  others.  A  little  infant  six  months 
old  cannot  help  another;  so  there  are  Christians 
who  cannot  really  help  others  by  their  spiritual  ex- 
perience. Dear  friends  let  us  take  this  first  mark  of 
carnal  state,  test  ourselves,  and  if  there  be  no 
healthy  growth  let  us  bow  before  God  in  shame. 

2.  The  carnal  state  is  a  state  of  sin  and  failure; 
no  victory  over  sin.  Paul  writing  to  the  Corinthi- 
ans says,  "There  is  among  you  envying,  and 
strife,  and  divisions."  That  was  the  work  of  the 
flesh  and  this  was  the  great  reason  that  he  had  to 
write  to  them  the  thirteenth  chapter,  because  of 
their  quarrelling.  One  exalted  Paul,  another 
thought  Apollos  was  the  more  eloquent;  another 
thought  that  Peter  was  older  than  either  and  better; 
they  were  divided  into  religious  parties.  They  were 
just  squabbling  among  themselves  and  got  excited, 
and  had  strifes,  divisions  and  envy.  In  Galatians,  5th 
chapter,  you  have  envyings,  strifes,  etc.  as  the  works 
of  the  flesh.  Do  we  not  find  Christians  who  in 
some  respects  have  a  good  measure  of  the  grace  of 
God  and  yet  have  never  really  conquered  their  tem- 
per, and  so  when  another  says  a  sharp  thing  to  them 
they  give  a  sharp  reply?  How  many  Christians 
there  are  who  have  never  learned  to  love  as  God 
wants  them  to  love,  to  love  the  unlovable.  What 
is  this  but  that  they  are  j-et  in  the  carnal  state? 
In  them  the  flesh  has  more  power  than  the  Spirit. 
Friends,  until  we  confess  with  shame,  I  am  carnal, 
we  will  not  get  into  the  life  of   the  spiritual   man. 


6  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

May  God  searcli  us,  and  reveal  our  true  state.  Let 
us  say,  what  is  it  that  hinders  the  brightness  of  my 
life?  and  you  will  g-et  the  answer  from  God.  Two 
powers  are  striving  for  mastery  over  you,  Spirit  and 
flesh;  and  if  the  Spirit  is  not  ruling  you  it  is  be- 
cause the  flesh  is  ruling.  This  is  why  a  man  gives 
way  to  pride,  self-conceit,  worldliness,  the  lust  of 
the  eyes,  the  lust  of  the  flesh,  and  the  pride  of  life. 
It  is  nothing  but  that  he  is  still  in  the  carnal  state. 
You  know  a  thing  alwaj^s  gets  its  name  from  what 
is  its  most  prominent  characteristic.  A  spiritual 
man  gets  his  name  from  the  fact  that  the  Spirit 
triumphs,  rules  in  his  life,  even  though  there  may 
still  be  somewhat  of  the  flesh.  You  cannot  be  in 
intercourse  with  him  without  feeling  that  the  Spirit 
is  leading,  guiding  and  controling.  He  is  called 
spiritual  because  spirituality  is  his  chief  character- 
istic. Paul  writes  to  the  Corinthians,  "Know  ye 
not  that  ye  are  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost  that 
dwelleth  in  you."  There  was  somewhat  of  the 
Spirit  in  them,  but  they  had  allowed  the  flesh  to 
rule.  The  question  comes  to  us,  as  a  voice  from  heav- 
en, '  'Are  ye  not  carnal?"  That  worldliness,  that  un- 
faithfulness, that  neglect  of  God's  word.  It  is  but 
the  mark  of  one  thing— you  are  carnal,  you  have  not 
given  yourself  over  wholly  to  live  the  spiritual  life. 
3.  The  third  mark  of  the  carnal  state.  Along 
with  this  carnal  state  there  may  be  found  a  great 
deal  of  spiritual  gift.  This  is  a  very  solemn 
thought.  You  know  how  this  is  illustrated  in  the 
case  of  the  Corinthians.  In  the  1st  chapter  Paul 
says,  "I  thank  God  **  that  in  everything  ye  are  en- 
riched by  him  in  all  utterance  and  in  all  knowledge. " 


CARNAL   OR   SPIRITUAL.  7 

There  were  spiritual  gifts  among-  the  Corinthians: 
g-ifts  of  prophec}',  tong-ues,  and  many  other  gifts 
most  remarkable.  Indeed  the  gift  of  tongues  was 
so  remarkable  that  Paul  had  to  check  and  warn 
them  to  be  careful  in  their  use  of  this  gift.  And 
yet  Paul  writes  the  whole  epistle  with  the  one  idea, 
that  they  were  full  of  quarrelling,  pride,  selfish- 
ness, etc.  A  man  may  have  a  spiritual  gift  of 
preaching  or  be  able  to  speak  with  power,  and  yet 
his  private  life  may  be  filled  with  pride  until  the 
world  says,  "we  don't  believe  in  that  man."  Where 
is  his  humility?  A  man  may  be  an  evangelist  and 
lead  hundreds  to  Christ  and  yet  you  will  hear  it  said 
"  How  full  of  self."  The  world  says  "I  don't  be- 
lieve in  that  man  he  is  too  full  of  himself."  Can  it 
be  that  a  man  who  is  a  powerful  man  in  the  service 
of  God  can  be  carnal?  It  can  be.  That  is  what  we 
want  to  make  plain.  A  man  may  claim  the  baptism 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  get  it  as  a  Spirit  of  power 
and  a  Spirit  of  zeal,  and  yet  that  man  may  be  ter- 
ribly lacking  in  the  graces  of  a  holy  life — in  humil- 
ity, gentleness,  tenderness,  before  God  and  man,  in 
that  meekness  of  the  Lamb  of  God  which  is  the 
chief  grace  of  the  Christian  life.  Look  at  the  Cor- 
inthians; they  had  spiritual  gifts  of  prophecy, 
tongues,  etc.,  yet  they  were  unwilling  to  be  subject 
one  to  the  other,  there  was  strife  as  to  who  should 
speak  first.  Don't  think  that  the  carnal  state  is  the 
state  of  a  man  in  whom  there  is  no  good.  A  man 
may  be  a  preacher,  evangelist,  sabbath  school 
teacher,  organizer,  and  yet,  alas,  God  may  say  to 
that  man,  "Are  you  not  carnal?"  Does  he  not  do 
as  much  good  in  the  end?     No.     He  may  help  an- 


8  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

other  to  the  Christian  life  but  the  Christian  life  he 
helps  him  to  is  such  a  mixed  one  that  it  is  feeble 
and  does  not  stand.  The  man  whose  inner  life  is 
under  the  rule  of  the  Spirit,  who  is  himself  spirit- 
ual, will  beg-et  really  spiritual  children;  he  will  im- 
part the  life  of  God  in  power.  Being-  able  to  exer- 
cise spiritual  gifts  is  no  neccessary  proof  that  we 
are  not  carnal. 

4.  The  carnal  state  bring-s  an  incapacity  for  re- 
ceiving- spiritual  truth.  Just  note  how  distinctly 
Paul  says  this  in  writing*  to  the  Corinthians.  In 
the  first  and  second  chapters  he  had  been  speaking- 
about  himself,  Christ  having-  sent  him  to  preach  the 
cross,  not  with  human  wisdom  but  in  the  power  of 
the  Spirit.  Then  in  the  third  chapter  he  speaks 
about  the  church,  and  he  turns  to  them  and  says,  I 
have  received  the  mystery  of  God  but  I  cannot  tell 
you.  Why  not?  Were  the  Corinthians  very  stupid? 
No,  they  were  great  seekers  after  wisdom,  they 
prided  themselves  upon  their  knowledg-e.  In  the 
passage  that  I  read  a  short  time  ago  you  will  re- 
member it  said  they  were  "enriched  in  all  know- 
ledge." They  were  a  cultured,  thoughtful  people. 
The  wisdom  of  the  world  was  beautiful  in  their 
eyes,  and  yet  Paul  said,  all  your  wisdom  will  not 
help  you.  If  I  were  to  speak  spiritual  truth  you 
would  take  it  into  a  carnal  mind  and  intellect  and  it 
would  be  an  injury  to  you.  There  is  a  terrible  mis- 
take made  right  at  this  point  very  often.  Paul  says, 
before  I  can  write  to  them  I  must  settle  it  in  my 
mind  that  they  are  carnal  people.  I  must  let  them 
know  that  they  are  carnal  and  bring  them  to  the 
point  of  realizing  that  they  are  carnal.     How  often 


CARNAL   OR   SPIRITUAL.  V 

in  the  church  of  Christ  we  preach  to  people  who  are 
carnal,  deep  spiritual  truths;  we  clothe  our  thoughts 
in  beautiful  words  and  illustrations;  they  say  "What 
a  beautiful  sermon"  and  practically  it  does  them 
very  little  g-ood.  Was  not  the  sermon  true?  Was 
not  the  truth  of  the  Bible  in  it?  Yes,  but  you 
preached  spiritual  truth  to  carnal  people.  Friends, 
as  long-  as  the  Christian  is  carnal  don't  g-ive  him 
spiritual  truth.  You  must  bring- him  to  the  point 
where  he  recognizes  that  he  is  carnal.  The  carnal 
state  is  incapable  of  receiving  spiritual  truth. 

II.     FROM  CARNAL  TO  SPIRITUAL. 

Paul  did  not  want  the  Corinthians  to  rest  in  the 
carnal  state.  No  !  He  wanted  them  to  pass  from 
carnal  to  spiritual.  That  is  what  we  need  too. 
And  the  question  comes,  how  are  we  to  get  from  the 
one  to  the  other?     Note  four  of  the  principal  steps. 

1.  The  believer  must  be  convicted,  and  brought 
to  the  confession  of  his  being  in  the  carnal  state. 
You  know  that  before  a  sinner  can  be  converted  he 
must  be  convicted  of  sin;  he  must  know  and  confess 
his  transgressions,  and  his  lost  estate.  Just  so,  be- 
lievers must  see  that  they  are  in  a  wrong  state;  be- 
fore they  can  get  into  the  spiritual  life  they  must 
be  brought  under  conviction  of  the  shame  and  evil 
of  this  carnal  state.  There  is  a  great  difference 
between  conviction  before  conversion  and  this. 
Then,  that  which  principally  occupied  the  mind  was 
the  thought,  "I  am  lost,  I  am  under  condemnation;" 
the  great  idea  was  the  greatness  of  his  transgres- 
sions, and  the  desire  to  have  them  pardoned.  There 
were  two  things  that  he  was  not  convicted  of:  thaf 


10  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

his  nature  is  utterly  sinful,  the  other  that  there  are 
many  hidden  heart  sins,  that  he  has  never  known. 
This  is  the  reason  God  bring-s  a  believer  into  what 
might  be  termed  a  second  conviction.  It  is  most 
needful  that  he  be  fully  convicted  of  two  thing's:  the 
utter  impotence  of  the  flesh  to  do  any  g"ood;  the 
mig-hty  power  of  the  flesh  to  work  evil.  The  flesh 
is  ruling-  him.  He  has  the  Spirit  of  God  in  him, 
and  why  does  he  yet  do  these  thing-s?  It  is  just  the 
seventh  of  Romans,  "  I  am  strug-gling- to  do  rig-ht 
and  I  cannot."  Oh  friends,  it  is  when  a  man  is 
broug-ht  under  conviction  of  the  utter  impotence  of 
the  flesh  to  do  g^ood,  its  helplessness,  that  he  will 
understand  why  he  lost  his  temper,  and  why  pride 
comes  up,  and  why  he  speaks  wrong"  words.  The 
flesh  takes  him  captive;  the  law  of  sin  in  him  binds 
him  hand  and  foot.  Then  comes  those  g"reat  hid- 
den sins  that  the  world  counts  very  little,  which 
are  seen  to  be  works  of  the  flesh.  The  Holy  Spirit 
convicts  of  pride  as  being-  of  the  flesh;  unloving- 
thoughts  toward  wife,  or  child,  or  servant;  self- 
pleasing-  before  God  and  man;  and  so  he  needs  an 
entire  deliverance, different  from  that  at  conversion. 
Then  he  was  delivered  from  the  curse  of  sin,  now 
he  wants  deliverance  from  the  power  of  sin.  Many 
in  the  church  of  Christ  will  have  to  cry,  "Woe  is 
me,  O  wretched  man  that  I  am,  in  my  flesh  dwell- 
eth  no  good  thing. "  It  is  simply  because  the  flesh 
has  power  that  you  sin,  you  must  find  deliverance. 
And  there  is  no  deliverance  but  by  becoming  an  en- 
tire spiritual  man. 

2nd  step  is  that  a  man  must  be  made  to  see   and 
believe  that  the  spiritual  life  is  a  possibility.      A 


CARNAI,   OR   SPIRITUAL.  11 

great  many  people  will  say  in  a  creed  that  they  be- 
lieve in  the  Holy  Ghost.  They  have  no  doubt 
about  the  existence  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  that  He 
is  the  Third  Person  of  the  Blessed  God-Head. 
They  are  orthodox  on  all  these  points;  but,  it  is  an 
intellectual  belief.  They  practically  do  not  believe 
in  what  the  Holy  Ghost  can  do  in  a  believer  every 
day  of  his  life.  A  man  must  be  broug-ht  to  see  that 
there  is  a  spiritual  life  within  his  reach;  that  there 
is  a  spiritual  life  which  it  is  his  duty  to  live;  that 
there  is  a  spiritual  life  he  is  in  need  of  and  may 
claim.  There  is  a  life  in  the  Spirit.  Note  such 
expressions  as  "Walk  in  the  Spirit,"  "Live  in  the 
Spirit,"  '* By  the  Spirit,  mortify  the  deeds  of  the 
body."  Just  take  the  sixteen  verses  of  the  eig-hth 
chapter  of  Romans  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is  men- 
tioned, and  a  man  must  beg-in  to  see  that  God  wants 
him  to  be  a  spiritual  man.  He  cannot  bear  to  have 
me  carnal.  God  commands  me  to  be  spiritual  and 
by  the  grace  of  God,  just  as  certainly  as  Christ's 
blood  flowed  for  my  sins,  so  Christ's  Spirit  can  lead 
me  down  into  the  place  of  absolute  helplessness 
where  He  will  live  in  me  in  His  Divine  power,  and 
renew  my  whole  nature  into  spiritual.  Oh,  take 
this  step  before  I  go  further.  Reach  out  at  once 
and  begin  in  a  simple  act  of  faith  to  obey  God's  call. 
Say,  "O  God,  a  spiritual  life  is  possible,  I  can  be- 
come a  spiritual  man."  Let  us  begin  and  believe 
that  the  God  who  g-ave  the  Holy  Spirit  delights  in 
nothing  more  than  to  give  the  Holy  Spirit  in  each 
of  us  to  live  this  life. 

When  a  man  is  convicted  of  a  carnal  life  and  be- 


12  THE  SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

lieves  in  the  possibility  of  a  spiritual  life  lie  comes 
to  the  third  step. 

3rd.  Are  you  willing-  to  give  up  everything- to  get 
the  spiritual  life?  Then  comes  the  time  of  strug- 
gling-. A  great  many  delig-ht  to  read  about  the 
spiritual  life,  but  that  is  not  enough.  I  must  buy. 
At  what  price?  Give  up  all.  You  must  sell  all  to 
buy  the  pearl  of  great  price.  Come  with  every  sin 
and  every  folly,  all  temper,  everything  you  love, 
your  whole  life,  and  place  it  in  the  possession  of 
Christ.  Die  to  everything  and  be  fully  given  up  to 
God.  It  is  only  in  the  vessel  that  is  fully  cleansed 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  can  do  His  work.  Here  in  Chi- 
cago the  question  is  of  ten  asked,  "Will  a  thing  pay?" 
If  it  will  pay  men  will  undertake  anything-.  If 
there  is  one  thing-  that  will  pay  it  is  to  give  up 
everything-  for  God — everything  of  the  flesh — to 
become  a  truly  spiritual  man. 

4th  and  last  step.  When  a  man  says  "I  am  will- 
ing" then  he  must  come  in  faith  and  claim  it.  It  is 
just  faith  over  ag-ain.  It  is  faith  from  beginning- 
to  end.  When  a  man  gives  up  all,  he  must  look  up 
at  the  Lord  Jesus  to  whom  the  Father  has  given 
the  Holy  Spirit,  claim  the  promise  and  believe  that 
he  receives  it.  Bow  before  God,  the  Holy  One,  in 
deep  humility  and  submission;  with  faith  in  His 
promise.  His  power.  His  g-reat  love.  His  near  provi- 
dence— God,  who  is  a  spirit  and  gives  the  Spirit, 
will,  in  the  fellowship  with  Himself,  make  thee  a 
spiritual  man. 

May  God  in  His  mercy  open  the  eyes  of  all  His 
people  to  discern  the  two  states  of  carnal  and  spirit- 


CAKNAI,  OR   SPIRITUAL.  13 

ual.  May  He  bring-  all  who  are  yet  in  the  carnal 
state  to  full  conviction  and  confession.  And 
throug-h  them  may  He  bring-  many  to  the  accept- 
ancy  of  the  full  spiritual  life  He  has  provided  in 
Christ  Jesus. 


14  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 


Seven  Blessings. 


We  learned  this  morning-  from  God's  Word  to  the 
Corinthians  that  there  are  two  classes  of  Christians. 
Paul  speaks  of  some  who  are  carnal  and  of  others 
who  are  spiritual.  I  tried  to  point  out  what  the  life 
of  the  carnal  Christian  is,  what  a  wrong  and 
wretched  state  it  is;  and  on  the  other  hand  what 
the  steps  are  by  which  we  can  get  out  of  the  carnal 
state  into  the  spiritual.  Among  these  steps  I  men- 
tioned first  of  all  that  a  man  must  be  fully  convict- 
ed of  the  wrongness  of  the  carnal  state,  and  of  the 
possibilities  and  blessedness  of  the  spiritual  state. 
I  want,  tonight,  to  speak  of  the  latter  and  to  set  be- 
fore you  what  God's  Word  teaches  of  a  life  in  the 
Spirit.  You  know  when  the  Children  of  Israel  got 
to  Kadesh-Barnea  they  sent  out  spies  to  see  what 
the  land  was  like.  God  expected  that  when  they 
saw  the  grapes  and  heard  of  the  beauty  of  that  land 
they  would  all  enter  in.  So  God  wants  us  to  look 
at  the  spiritual  life,  until  we  believe  that  it  is  in- 
deed to  be  divided,  and  within  our  reach.  Later  on 
in  these  addresses  we  shall  have  occasion  to  come 
back  to  the  carnal  life  and  the  passage  out  of  it, 


SEVEN    BLESSINGS.  15 

but  I  want,  by  God's  help  to-night,  just  to  set  before 
you  what  the  life  is  in  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit,  as 
God  expects  His  children  to  live  it  day  by  day.  I 
want  to  take  you  to  a  chapter  in  God's  word  where 
it  is  set  before  us  more  plainly  than  in  any  other 
chapter.  Romans,  the  eighth  chapter.  Let  us  read 
the  first  sixteen  verses.  You  will  find  in  these 
seven  blessings,  seven  of  the  blessed  fruits  of  the 
Spirit  in  us.     1  shall  point  them  out  as  we  read. 

1.  "Who  walk  not  after  the  flesh  but  after  the 
Spirit. "  The  whole  of  our  conduct  is  under  the  rule 
of  the  Spirit. 

2.  "For  the  law  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ 
Jesus  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of  sin  and 
death."     The  Spirit  brings  us  into  liberties. 

3.  "They  that  «;-£?«//£'/' the  Spirit  *  *  *  ye  are 
in  the  Spirit  *  *  *  the  Spirit  dwells  in  you.''''  The 
Christian  has  a  new  nature;  God's  Spirit  is  in  him. 

4.  "Z>^  7«/«^  the  things  of  the  Spirit."  To  be 
spiritually  minded  is  life  and  peace.  Mind  means 
disposition;  to  mind  the  things  of  the  Spirit,  to  have 
a  spiritual  disposition. 

5.  Vs.  13.  "If  ye  through  the  Spirit  do  mortijy 
the  deeds  of  the  body  3^e  shall  live."  The  Spirit 
makes  the  death  to  sin  an  actual  reality  in  our  body. 

6.  "As  many  as  ai'e  led  by  the  Spirit  oi  God  they 
are  the  sons  of  God."     Divine  guidance. 

7.  "  Ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondage 
again  to  fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  Spirit  of 
adoption."  The  Spirit  beareth  witness  with  our 
spirit. 

What  I  want  to  put  before  you  is  this,  that  all  we 


16  THE   SPIRITUAI.    LIFE. 

have  in  this  chapter  is  simply  the  description  of  the 
normal  Christian  life.  This  is  a  thing  for  every 
believer.  We  are  sometimes  in  dang-er  of  talking- 
about  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit,  of  being-  filled  with 
the  Spirit  for  service,  as  thoug-h  that  were  all,  but 
it  is  possible,  as  I  pointed  out  this  morning-,  to  have 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  special  service  and 
yet  be  carnal.  We  want  to  feel  that  we  must  not 
seek  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  as  a  power  for 
work  only,  but,  as  a  far  more  important  matter,  we 
must  have  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  for  our 
whole  life.  The  work  must  be  the  outcome  of  the 
life.  There  are  over  100  men  in  the  g-old  fields  of 
South  Africa  who  have  been  Christian  workers  but 
have  now  given  up  their  religion  for  gold.  It  is 
possible  that  at  the  time  of  their  service  they  had 
the  Spirit  of  God  but  it  was  a  very  superficial  work 
in  their  hearts  and  lives.  The  Holy  Spirit  had 
never  been  allowed  to  go  down  into  the  very  depths 
of  their  being  to  establish  the  life  of  God  through 
their  whole  nature.  If  He  had,  they  would  never 
have  gone  back.  Nothing  can  take  us  back  when 
the  Holy  Spirit  gets  entire  possession  of  our  inner 
life.  I  want  to  show  you  this  evening  what  pro- 
vision God  has  made  for  you.  You  know  in  Eng- 
land that  the  nobility  when  they  want  their  names 
to  be  carried  down,  entail  their  estate  so  that  it 
must  always  go  to  the  eldest  son.  Often  there  will 
be  younger  sons  who  get  almost  nothing.  God 
does  not  do  that.  He  disinherits  none  of  His  sons. 
He  calls  all  of  His  children  to  share  alike  in  the 
blessed  gift  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     All  may  not   have 


SEVKN   BLESSINGS.  17 

the  same  gift  of  power  for  work,  but  all  may  and 
must  have  the  fitness  for  a  life  full  of  God.  Let  us 
all  seek  Him. 

Let  me  point  you  to  seven  principal  thoughts  in 
the  passage. 

1.  The  Christian  is  a  man  who  walks  after  the 
Spirit.  In  Galatians  it  is  said,  "  If  we  live  in  the 
Spirit  let  us  also  walk  in  the  Spirit."  *'  Walk  in  the 
Spirit  and  ye  shall  not  fulfill  the  lusts  of  the  flesh." 
My  walk  is  my  conduct,  what  the  Bible  calls  my 
conversation,  my  course  of  life,  my  external  manner 
of  life.  Here  I  am  told  as  a  Christian,  God  will  en- 
able me  to  walk  after  the  Spirit,  with  the  Spirit  as 
my  inspiration.  Unconverted  men  walk  after  the 
flesh;  the  flesh  leads  them  and  tells  them  what  to 
do.  The  Christian  can  come  into  the  life  of  the 
Spirit;  in  it  he  acts,  in  it  he  walks,  he  has  the  con- 
tinual hidden  guidance  of  the  Spirit  of  God  mould- 
ing and  shaping  his  will  and  walk.  I  may  be  a 
minister,  if  I  walk  after  the  Spirit,  that  does  not 
mean  that  I  am  to  pray  for  the  Spirit  just  before  I 
preach,  and  in  other  things  live  after  the  flesh.  No, 
God  calls  us  to  walk  in  the  Spirit  at  all  times.  Is 
not  that  what  you  wish?  I  need  the  Spirit  so  that 
when  I  sit  down  at  my  table,  when  my  temper  might 
be  tempted  to  rise;  in  my  business,  in  trials  of  any 
kind  I  may  feel  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  work- 
ing in  me,  and  moving  me.  All  my  walk  is  to  be 
according  to  the  Spirit.     How  can  I  get  to  that? 

2.  Paul  says  in  the  second  verse  ' '  For  the  law 
of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  Jesus  has  made  me 
free  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death.     In  the  seventh 


18  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

chapter  he  speaks  of  a  believer,  a  regenerated  man, 
who  delights  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward 
man  but  who  finds  another  law  in  his  members  that 
leads  him  into  captivity  to  the  law  of  sin  and  death. 
I  am  a  prisoner,  I  am  a  captive,  I  want  to  do  g-ood 
but  I  cannot.  Suppose  a  husband  is  in  prison  and 
his  wife  and  children  are  all  starving.  She  writes 
to  him  "  Can  you  not  do  something  to  help  me?" 
He  writes  back,  ''Ilong  to  help  you,  I  would  do 
anything  I  could  to  help  you,  but  here  I  am  bound, 
so  that  I  cannot."  This  is  just  like  the  believer  in 
the  seventh  chapter  of  Romans,  "I  long  to  obey 
God  but  I  cannot."  Why?  Because  he  is  bound 
with  the  chains  of  the  flesh,  in  captivity  to  the  law 
of  sin  and  death  in  his  members.  But  the  Spirit 
sets  a  man  free  out  of  this  captivity.  "  The  law  of 
the  Spirit  of  life  hath  made  me  free  from  the  law  of 
sin  and  death. "  Let  us  believe  there  are  two  pow- 
ers, the  power  of  the  Spirit  and  the  power  of  sin. 
Which  is  stronger?  Many  Christians  tell  me  the 
power  of  the  flesh  is  stronger.  It  is  very  sad  that 
so  many  think  thus.  Paul  tells  me,  God  tells  me, 
that  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  stronger  and 
the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  can  make  me  free  from 
the  law  of  sin  and  death  if  I  trust  Him.  It  is  not 
here  a  question  of  the  last  root  of  sin  being  exter- 
minated. We  believe  the  tendency  to  evil  remains 
to  the  end,  but,  we  believe  this  word,  too,  is  literal 
truth,  that  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  makes  me  free 
from  the  law  of  sin  to  such  extent  that  it  has  no 
power  over  me.  My  enemy  is  there,  but  he  cannot 
touch  me.     After  the  close  of  your  civil  war  those 


SEVEN  BLESSINGS.  19 

who  had  been  slaves  could  dwell  in  the  presence  of 
their  former  masters;  the  masters  were  not  dead  and 
yet  they  could  not  touch  them.  Just  so  the  Holy 
Spirit  can  take  possession,  and  in  presence  of  the 
power  of  sin  the  Holy  Spirit  can  fill  the  believer 
and  make  sin  powerless.  Are  there  not  many  who 
serve  God  under  constraint,  who  have  to  force  them- 
selves to  g-o  and  work  for  God,  and  then  ever  feel 
that  they  come  far  short;  they  cannot  rejoice  in  the 
liberty  wherewith  Christ  has  made  us  free.  The 
Master  said,  "If  the  Son  make  you  free  ye  shall  be 
free  indeed,"  but  you  do  not  enjoy  it.  If  you  be- 
lieved it,  if  you  trusted  God's  word  for  it,  you  would 
begin  to  long-  for  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
you  would  understand  that  nothing  less  than  this 
being  made  free  by  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling'  in  His 
fullness  in  you  can  enable  you  to  live  an  inwardly 
holy  life. 

3.  ' '  Ye  are  not  in  the  flesh  but  in  the  Spirit  if 
so  be  that  the  Spirit  of  God  dwell  in  you.''''  "Of 
the  Spirit,"  "After  the  Spirit,"  "In  the  Spirit," 
"The  Spirit  of  God  in  you."  All  these  expressions 
are  used  to  express  the  one  thought  of  the  closeness, 
and  the  reality  of  the  blessed  union  by  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  takes  possession  of  me.  I  am  in  Him 
and  He  is  in  me  just  as  a  man  is  in  the  air  and  the 
air  is  in  him.  The  air  is  in  my  lungs  and  I  am  in 
the  air  that  surrounds  me.  The  two  things  go  to- 
gether; I  go  into  the  fresh  air  and  the  fresh  air 
comes  into  me.  Even  so  the  child  of  God  is  taken 
out  of  the  life  of  the  flesh  and  taken  into  the  life  of 
the  Spirit.     The  Spirit  surrounds  him  on  every  side 


20  THE  SPIRITUAL    I.IFE. 

with  a  divjne  power  that  is  breathed  into  him  and 
that  constitutes  his  life.  He  is  in  the  Spirit  and 
the  Spirit  is  in  him.  He  is  after  the  Spirit  and  the 
very  nature,  the  divine  nature  of  the  Spirit  is  in 
him.  Have  you  ever  thoug-ht  about  it,  how  won- 
derful the  Spirit  of  God  becomes  the  very  spirit  of 
our  life.  Many  people  think  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
dwelling  in  us  as  a  man  dwells  in  a  house,  the  man 
and  the  house  remain  separate  existances  all  the 
time.  There  is  no  organic  union,  no  participation 
of  life  or  nature  between  the  two.  That  is  not  the 
way  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  comes  into  my  very 
being  and  just  as  my  thinking  and  willing  and  feel- 
ing is  my  very  nature,  so  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  I  be- 
come partaker  of  the  divine  nature;  He  enters  deep, 
deep,  into  me  and  prevades  my  whole  inner  life. 
The  Spirit  of  God  is  in  me  and  I  am  in  the  Spirit  of 
God.  Ought  that  not  to  fill  us  with  a  holy  fear  and 
a  holy  joy?  fear  lest  we  should  remain  ignorant  of 
the  truth;  joy  in  the  expectation  of  all  we  will  do. 
The  Spirit  who  came  out  from  the  Father  and  the 
Son  brings  and  reveals  them  to  me.  And  the  three 
persons  in  the  one  God-Head  through  Him  come  in- 
to my  heart  and  so  I  live  in  the  Spirit.  Oh  believ- 
ers who  do  not  think  it  possible  to  live  this  blessed 
life.  I  will  tell  you  the  simple  reason.  Because  you 
do  not  believe  God,  do  not  believe  that  Almighty 
God  will  dwell  in  you.  Will  you  not  begin  and  say, 
if  it  be  true  I  may  be  in  the  Spirit  just  as  I  am  in 
the  air,  thank  God,  I  think  I  can  lead  a  holy  and 
blessed  life. 

4.     "They  that  are  after  the  Spirit  do  mind  the 


SEVEN   BI^ESSINGS.  21 

thing's  of  the  Spirit  "  What  does  that  word  "mind" 
mean?  Generally  it  is  used  of  the  intellect,  but 
here  it  means  something"  else.  You  know  when  I 
speak  of  a  hig'hminded  man,  by  mind  I  mean  dis- 
position. A  larg-e  hearted  man  is  one  of  a  large 
hearted  disposition.  To  be  a  spiritual  minded  man 
is  to  have  the  disposition  of  the  Holy  Spirit;  heav- 
enly minded  is  a  mind  that  has  the  spirit  and  dis- 
position of  heaven.  To  be  spiritually  minded  is  life 
and  peace.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  ready  to  breathe 
within  me  the  very  mind  and  disposition  of  Christ; 
that  is  what  Paul  meant  in  writing*  to  the  Philippi- 
ans,  "  Let  this  mind  be  in  you  that  was  in  Christ 
Jesus,"  etc.  If  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  in  and  takes 
possession  of  my  disposition  I  shall  have  the  mind 
of  Christ.  God's  word  says,  "Love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself;"  you  have  tried  hard  but  failed  because 
it  is  not  natural.  But  it  is  no  difi&culty  to  a  mother 
to  be  g-entle  and  loving-  because  it  is  her  natural 
disposition  to  be  so.  Just  so  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
make  my  disposition  spiritual  minded.  He  lives 
within  me,  and  breathes  into  me  everything-  that  is 
gentle  and  Christ-like  and  humble.  He  puts  it  so 
into  me  that  it  becomes  my  very  nature.  I  can  love 
him  whom  I  hated.  The  love  of  God  is  indeed  a 
wonderful  mystery;  when  it  becomes  ours  the  more 
unlovable  a  man  is  the  more  we  love  him,  the  more 
unworthy  a  man  is  the  more  love  is  magnified  in 
loving  him.  You  find  it  so  hard  to  keep  your  tem- 
pers. There  is  just  one  reason  for  this;  you  are  not 
spiritually  minded.  The  Spirit  of  God  must  come 
and^//  you.      You   may   have   had  Him  in  some 


22  the;  spirituai.  life. 

measure  but  He  must  fill  you  deeper  and  deeper. 
He  must  fill  you  with  the  disposition  of  Jesus  so 
that  you  become  spiritually  minded.  Christians! 
would  you  not  long-  to  have  such  a  disposition  that 
everything  about  you  might  be  spiritual.  The 
Spirit  who  dwells  in  you  can  and  will  give  if  you 
yield  to  Him. 

5.  Vs.  13.  "  If  ye  through  the  Spirit  do  mortify 
the  deeds  of  the  body  ye  shall  live."  The  word 
"mortify"  simply  means  to  c^se  to  die.  "If  ye 
make  dead  the  deeds  of  the  body  ye  shall  live." 
The  man  who  has  not  given  the  body  over  to  the 
Spirit  to  do  His  work,  what  a  trouble  the  body  gives 
him.  How  much  sin  comes  out  of  the  body.  Many 
Christians  never  understand  that  it  is  the  deeds  of 
the  body  that  must  be  made  dead.  But  it  is  very 
hard,  and  in  fact  impossible,  until  we  begin  to  see 
that  it  is  through  the  Holy  Ghost  who  is  the  mighty 
power  of  God.  It  is  a  very  simple  thing  eating 
and  drinking  a  little  too  much.  And  is  that  such  a 
great  sin?  Ask  the  Bible.  ' '  Whether  ye  eat  or 
drink  do  all  to  the  glory  of  God."  Overeating  or 
eating  for  mere  enjoyment,  weights  and  makes  the 
body  heavy  and  unfit  for  prayer.  That  is  the  time 
the  devil  can  come  to  you.  A  man  may  be  living 
in  victory  over  some  sin  but  through  the  pleasure 
of  eating  the  devil  may  get  power  over  his  flesh. 
"When  you  think  you  are  only  feeding  the  body  you 
are  feeding  the  flesh,  you  are  strengthening  it  by 
gratifying  its  appetite.  That  cannot  please  God. 
Temper  is  very  much  a  sin  of  the  flesh.  It  is  in  me. 
It  is  my  selfhood.     A  bundle  of  nerves   is  nothing 


SEVEN   BLESSINGS.  23 

but  a  bundle  of  self.     The  Holy  Spirit   is  able  to 
mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body  and  to  reign  through 
it  all  with  His  Divine   peace   and   power.      If  you 
want  to  have  the  deeds  of  the  body   mortified,    be- 
ware of  the  lust  of  the  flesh  and  the  lust  of  the  eyes. 
Ah,  Christians,  remember  if  j^ou  want  to  have  your 
body  the  temple  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  if  you  want  to 
live  a  holy  life,  you  must  be  filled  with  the   Spirit; 
your  body,  too,  must  be   under  the  power.      You 
might  know  the  mysteries  of  the  heavens,  like    the 
apostle  Paul,  but  this  could  give  you  no  help  to  live 
a  holy  life.     God's  word  has  no  help  for  you  except 
as  it  tells  you   that  you   must   be   filled   with   the 
Spirit.     You  know  how  Scripture  speaks  about  be- 
ing baptized   into   the   death   of   Christ;  we   must 
reckon  ourselves  indeed  dead  unto  sin  and  alive  un- 
to God.     It  says  we  are  crucified  with   Christ;    we 
are  dead.     And  then  it  adds,  mortify  therefore  your 
members.     My  inmost  regenerated  life  is  life  out  of 
death,  a  life  dead  to  sin  in  Christ.     And  the   Spirit 
of  Christ  maintains   the   power  of  that   death   in 
the  body.      People  say  that  this  is  too  hard.     You 
know  the  Christians  of  old  sometimes   gave   their 
whole  lives  to  keep  down  the  body;  and  some  of  the 
most  earnest  would  go  into  solitary  caves,    and   yet 
there   they  found   themselves  tempted  more   than 
ever  with  evil  spirits.     They  were  trjdng  to  be  holy 
by  self  mortification  but  they  did  not   succeed.     "If 
ye  through  the  Spirit  do  mortify  the   deeds   of   the 
body  ye  shall  live."      If  you  are  willing   to   claim, 
and  receive  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the   thing 
can  be  done.     It  was   the   Holy   Spirit   that   took 


24  THK   SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

Christ  to  Calvary.  It  was  throug-h  the  eternal 
Spirit  He  offered  Himself  as  a  sacrifice  unto  God. 
By  that  eternal  Spirit  we  too,  can  be  led  to  Cal- 
vary, to  the  place  of  crucifixion,  to  the  conformity 
of  Christ's  death  and  the  experience  of  its  power. 
Have  you  ever  cried  in  despair,  "  Oh,  that  I  might 
be  crucified  to  the  world  and  dead  to  sin?"  The 
Holy  Spirit  will  do  it.  Oh  the  blessedness  of  a  life 
filled  with  this  Spirit. 

6.  ' '  As  many  as  are  lead  by  the  Spirit  of  God 
they  are  the  sons  of  God."  There  you  have  the 
leading  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  There  are  a  g"reat  many 
people  who  are  always  ready  to  ask,  "Do  tell  me, 
how  can  I  know  the  leading-  of  the  Holy  Spirit?  I 
want  to  know  God's  will,  I  pray,  and  seek,  and  can- 
not get  it."  They  want  to  know  God's  will  in  some 
perplexing  question.  I  always  tell  them,  you  be- 
g"in  at  the  wrong  end.  What  does  a  little  child  do? 
He  comes  to  his  father  and  says,  ' '  I  want  to  be  an 
engineer,"  the  father  says,  "Yes,  my  son,  but  you 
must  learn  a  number  of  things  before  you  can  be  an 
engineer."  The  child  may  say,  "I  want  to  be  an 
engineer  but  I  don't  want  to  learn  all  those  things." 
The  father  will  point  out  that  he  must  learn  to  add 
one,  two  and  three,  and  so  on,  before  he  can  be  an 
engineer,  and  it  will  take  a  good  long  time;  he  must 
master  the  simple  things  before  he  can  go  on  to  the 
higher.  And  so  I  say  to  the  inquirer,  the  Holy 
Spirit  wants  to  lead  you  in  the  simpler  things  of 
daily  life.  He  wants  you  in  daily  life  to  be  spirit- 
ually minded.  Then  you  will  know  the  mind  of  the 
Spirit  in  special  circumstances.     If,   in  your  daily 


SEVEN    BLESSINGS.  25 

life,  you  will  say,  "Lord,  let  me  know  what  my  con- 
duct today  should  be,"  then  you  will  be  prepared  for 
understanding-  His  leading-  in  times  of  need.  Then 
He  will  lead  you  into  deeper  things  of  God's  word. 
Then  He  will  show  you  how  you  are  to  walk.  That 
is  exactly  the  life  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  You  remem- 
ber He  said,  "I  cannot  do  anything  of  myself,  the 
words  I  speak  are  not  my  own,  what  the  Father 
showeth  me  I  do,"  etc.  He  was  always  listening  to 
the  voice  of  God  and  was  lead  by  God.  Is  it  not  a 
wonderful  privilege  for  us?  As  God  says,  "As 
many  as  are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  they  are  the 
sons  of  God."  Dear  Christians,  would  you  not  be 
willing  to  sacrifice  everything  for  that,  that  you 
might  be  led  by  the  Spirit?  You  know  God  cannot 
abate  His  requirements.  I  must  give  up  having  any 
will  of  my  own,  I  must  desire  above  everything-  to 
lead  a  holy  life  like  Jesus,  in  dependent,  humble 
waiting  upon  God.  You  say  that  is  hard.  It  is  not 
hard.  It  is  the  most  blessed  life.  It  is  exactly  the 
life  Jesus  lived.  Is  it  not  a  privilege  to  have  the 
blessed  God  lead  and  guide  me  all  along,  in  every- 
thing-. He  has  promised  to  do  that.  "As  many  as 
are  led  by  the  Spirit  of  God  they  are  the  sons  of 
God."  Oh,  beloved  let  us  realize  what  this  life  is. 
If  you  speak  about  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
for  service — and  I  want  you  to  speak  about  it.  I 
want  you  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  for  your 
work — remember  there  is  something  of  far  deeper 
importance.  It  is  that  your  whole  life,  from  mo- 
ment to  moment,  bear  the  mark  of  being  led  by  the 
Spirit,  of  being  spiritually  minded.     The  Spirit  of 


26  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

Jesus  makes  you  like  Jesus       By  the  Holy  Ghost 
you  can  live  a  Christ  like  life. 

7.  "Ye  have  not  received  the  spirit  of  bondag-e 
ag*ain  to  fear,  but  ye  have  received  the  spirit  of 
adoption  whereby  we  cry  Abba,  Father."  "The 
Spirit  dwelleth  with  our  spirit."  What  Spirit? 
The  Spirit  that  has  been  described  in  the  previous 
verses  as  leading-  us,  making  us  spiritually  minded, 
mortifying-  the  deeds  of  the  body;  that  is  the  spirit 
of  adoption.  This  is  the  Spirit  that  will  bear  wit- 
ness that  I  am  a  son  of  God.  Many  people  talk 
about  the  witness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  they  received 
when  they  believed.  I  do  not  say  they  are  not 
children  of  God,  but  they  do  not  live  like  it.  If  we 
want  the  Spirit  of  adoption  by  which  every  day  we 
can  have  that  assurance  and  evidence  that  can  con- 
fidently say,  "Abba,  Father,"  then  we  must  be  in 
the  Spirit  and  must  walk  after  the  Spirit.  If  by 
Him  I  am  living,  if  He  dwell  in  and  possess  me,  if 
I  be  of  the  Spirit  and  after  the  Spirit,  if  the  Spirit 
is  mine,  my  life  will  be  one  of  increasing  joy  and 
fellowship  with  God.  How  gently  He  leads  me, 
how  close  He  keeps  by  me.  Through  Him  God  ful- 
fills the  word  that -He  spoke  to  the  elder  son  in  the 
parable  of  the  prodigal  son,  "Son,  thou  art  ever 
with  me,  and  all  I  have  is  thine."  That  becomes  a 
possession,  an  experience,  made  real  by  the  Holy 
Ghost,  that  makes  the  spiritual,  heavenly  minded 
man.  "Abba,  Father,"  I  do  not  have  to  try  and 
feel,  or  claim,  or  struggle  for  the  relationship, 
but  the  Everlasting  God  reveals  Himself  to  me  as  a 
Father.     So  the  Living  Father  makes  us  to  know 


SEVEN   BLESSINGS.  27 

what  it  means  to  be  dwelling-  in  love  and  dwelling" 
in  God,  and  what  all  the  promises  about  the  Holy 
Spirit  mean,  "The  Father  shall  send  the  Com- 
forter that  He  may  abide  with  you  for  ever."  Be- 
loved Christians  there  is  a  wonderful  life,  which  the 
Holy  Spirit  makes  intensely  true.  It  is  a  real  Ca- 
naan life.  It  is  indeed  a  solemn,  precious  thoug-ht. 
God's  Holy  Spirit  can  make  all  God's  promises  and 
provisions  in  Christ  our  experience.  Who  are  ready 
to  come  into  this  life  tonig^ht,  and  claim  the  heritagfe 
as  the  child  of  God?  Who  will  cry:  I  am  going-  to 
ask  that  Rom.  8:1-16  shall  be  literally  fulfilled  in 
my  life. 

Let  me  sug-g-est  four  simple  steps.  Say  tonight! 
I  must  be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  God  commands  it. 
My  soul  needs  it.  The  Spirit  longs  for  it.  Christ 
will  do  it.  The  world  needs  it.  I  cannot  live 
aright  without  it.     I  must  be  filled  with  the  Spirit. 

2.  I  may  be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  God  does 
not  give  a  " must"  without  a  "may."  God  does 
not  say,  you  must  live  holy,  without  saying  you 
may,  you  can  live  holy.  Say,  "I  may."  God  has 
promised  it,  Christ  has  purchased  it,  the  Word  re- 
veals it,  thousands  have  experienced  it.  I  7nay  be 
filled  with  the  Spirit. 

3.  I  would  be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  Say,  Lord, 
my  heart  longs  for  it.  Begin  to  say,  I  give  up  ev- 
erything O,  God,  self,  sin,  self-will,  self-confidence, 
the  flesh;  I  give  up  everything.  I  would  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Lord  God,  set  Thy  mark 
upon  me;  I  am  an  empty  vessel  waiting  to  be  filled. 
I  would  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit.     I  am  ready. 


28  the;  spirituai,  ijfe. 

4.  I  shall  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  God 
has  promised  it  to  me.  I  have  a  right  to  say,  I  shall 
be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  Say  that  trembling-ly  and 
very,  very  humble.  I  confess  I  am  carnal,  I  have 
felt  my  sinfulness,  I  confess  my  sin.  My  heart  is 
willing-  for  it;  I  am  going  to  trust  God  for  it.  Oh, 
God,  Thou  doest  above  what  I  can  ask  or  think,  I 
give  myself  to  Thee  entirely,  I  trust  Thee  forever, 
I  give  myself  up  fully  and  I  claim  the  filling  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.     Thou  givest  it. 


THE  FRUIT  OK  THE  SPIRIT  I.S  LOVE.  X) 


^be  yruit  of  tbe  Spirit  is  Xove. 


Last  nig-ht  I  tried  to  put  before  you  what  a  life 
filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  may  be,  but  more  from 
the  doctrinal  side.  These  expressions  were  found 
in  Romans,  8th  chapter,  "Walk  in  the  Spirit," 
"Being-  made  free  by  the  Spirit  from  the  law  of  sin 
and  death."  "Being- in  the  Spirit,"  "Having-  the 
Spirit  dwelling  in  us,"  "Throug-h  the  Spirit  morti- 
fying-the  deeds  of  the  body,"  "Being-  led  by  the 
Spirit,"  '* Having-  the  Spirit  of  adoption."  All 
these  are  truths  which  have  to  be  appropriated  and 
assimilated  and  worked  out  in  actual  life.  I  want 
this  morning-  to  look  at  the  matter  more  from  the 
practical  side,  and  to  show  you  how  this  life  will 
show  itself  in  our  daily  walk  and  conduct.  Under 
the  Old  Testament  you  know  the  Holy  Spirit  often 
came  upon  men  as  a  Divine  Spirit  of  revelation,  to 
reveal  the  mysteries  of  God,  or  for  power  to  do  the 
work  of  God.  But  he  did  not  then  dwell  in  them. 
Now,  as  I  said  yesterday  morning,  many  just  want 
the  Old  Testament  gift  of  power  for  work,  but  know 
very  little  of  the  New  Testament  gift  of  the  in- 
dwelling Spirit,  animating  and  renewing  the  whole 


30  THS  SPIRITUAI.    LIFE. 

life.  We  saw  last  night  that  when  God  gives  the 
Holy  Spirit  His  great  object  is  the  formation  of  holy 
character.  We  saw  that  it  was  a  gift  of  a  holy 
mind  and  spiritual  disposition,  and  that  we  need 
above  everything  else  to  say,  "I  must  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  sanctifying  my  whole  inner  life  if  I  am 
really  to  live  for  God's  glory."  You  might  say  that 
when  Christ  promised  the  Spirit  to  the  disciples  He 
did  so  that  they  might  have  power  to  be  witnesses. 
True,  but  then  they  received  the  Holy  Ghost  in 
such  heavenly  power  and  reality  that  He  took  pos- 
session of  their  whole  being  at  once  and  so  fitted 
them  as  holy  men  for  doing  the  work  with  power 
as  they  had  to  do  it.  Christ  spoke  of  power  to  the 
disciples,  but  it  was  the  Spirit  filling  their  whole 
being  that  worked  the  power.  I  wish  to  speak  this 
morning  upon  the  passage  found  in  Gal.  5:22. 
"  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love."  We  read  that 
"  Love  is  the  fulfilling  of  the  whole  law,"  and  my 
desire  is  to  speak  to  you  this  morning  on  love  as  a 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  with  a  two  fold  object.  One  is 
that  this  word  may  be  a  searchlight  in  our  hearts 
and  give  us  a  test  by  which  to  try  all  our  thoughts 
about  the  Holy  Spirit  and  all  our  experience  of  the 
holy  life.  Let  us  try  ourselves  by  this  word.  Has 
this  been  your  daily  habit,  to  seek  the  being  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Spirit  of  love?  "The 
fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love."  Has  it  been  your  ex- 
perience that  the  more  you  have  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
the  more  loving  you  become?  In  claiming  the  Holy 
Spirit  you  should  make  this  the  first  object  of  your 
expectation,  the  Holy  Spirit  comes   as  a   Spirit  of 


THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IS  LOVE.  31 

love.  Oh,  if  this  were  true  in  the  church  of  Christ 
how  different  her  state  would  be.  May  God  help  us 
this  morning-  to  just  get  hold  of  this  simple  heav- 
enly truth,  that  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  a  love 
which  appears  in  the  life,  and  that  just  as  the  Holy 
Spirit  gets  real  possession  of  the  life,  the  heart  will 
be  filled  with  real.  Divine,  universal  love.  To  un- 
derstand this  fully  let  us  remember  that  God  from 
whom  the  Spirit  comes  is  love.  Love  is  not  a  mere 
attribute  of  God,  but  God  is  love,  and  because  this 
Holy  Spirit  comes  as  the  Spirit  of  God,  He  comes 
as  the  Spirit  of  love.  What  does  it  mean  that  God 
is  love?  You  have  in  the  13th  chapter  of  1  Corinth- 
ians the  most  perfect  definition  of  love.  "Love 
seeketh  not  its  own."  It  goes  out  of  itself  and 
lives  in  its  object,  etc.  Love  longs  to  commend  it- 
self to  and  bless  the  object  of  its  love.  Therefore 
it  was  an  absolute  necessity  in  the  idea  of  a  perfect 
God  that  He  should  have  a  Son  to  whom  He  could 
communicate  Himself.  We  cannot  conceive  of  God, 
who  is  love,  alone,  He  must  have  a  Son  to  whom  He 
can  communicate  Himself  and  with  whom  we  can 
have  fellowship.  So  God  is  love.  And  in  the  ever- 
lasting intercourse  of  the  Trinity  the  Spirit  is  the 
bond  of  fellowship  between  the  Father  and  Son. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  the  overflowing  and  interchange 
of  the  love  between  Father  and  Son.  He  is  the 
very  life  of  Deity;  if  that  Spirit  comes  to  us  He 
comes  in  no  other  way  than  as  the  Spirit  of  love. 
God  is  love  not  only  to  Christ,  but  in  Christ  God 
created  the  world  that  He  might  pour  out  His  love 
upon  it  and  that  He  might  give  to  all  His  creatures 


32  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

just  as  much  of  His  love  as  they  each  are  capable  of 
receiving-.  God  is  love.  God  created  ang-els  and 
men  that  they  mig-ht  enjoy  fellowship  with  Him, 
His  love  permeating  and  filling-  their  whole  being-. 
When  man  had  fallen,  when  sin  had  darkened  this 
love  of  God  in  man,  what  did  He  do?  He  gave  His 
own  Son  to  the  death  to  restore  it.  To  that  fallen 
world  God  g-ave  His  Son  in  a  new  way,  in  the  flesh 
to  prove  to  man  the  power  of  His  love.  And  with 
His  Son  He  gave  His  life.  His  joy.  His  glory,  His 
holiness,  His  power.  His  blessedness;  in  Christ  He 
gives  it  all.  God  is  love,  ever  delighting  to  give 
and  communicate  Himself.  Love  is  the  essential 
nature  of  God;  with  the  Holy  Spirit  coming  from 
this  God,  must  we  not  expect  that  He  will  fill  us 
with  love?  Sin  has  robbed  us  of  love.  You  know 
that  God  created  man,  male  and  female,  that  they 
might  live  a  life  of  love  even  as  God  lives  in  love, 
and  they  might  be  happy  in  love.  When  sin  came 
it  destroyed  the  love.  You  know  how  easily  Adam 
put  the  blame  upon  his  wife,  how  speedily  Cain 
killed  Abel,  how  soon  the  world  became  filled  with 
wickedness;  how  true  it  is  that  since  that  time  the 
world  is  full  of  divisions,  and  strife,  of  sin  and  un- 
righteousness. Love  vanished  from  the  world. 
There  may  have  been  beautiful  examples  of  love 
even  among  the  heathen  but  only  as  a  little  rem- 
nant of  what  has  been  lost.  The  worst  thing  sin 
ever  did  was,  it  made  men  selfish  and  selfishness 
cannot  love.  Selfishness  can  do  something  that  is 
called  love;  it  can  lead  me  to  love  some  one  who 
pleases  me  or  makes  me  happier,  but  that  is  not  real 


i 


THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IS  I.OVE.  33 

love.  The  true  unselfish  love,  that  loves  the  un- 
worthy or  unlovable,  sin  destroyed.  To  bring  this 
love  back  to  us  Jesus  came.  He  came  as  the  mani- 
festation of  Divine  love.  We  read  before  He  went 
to  be  crucified,  that  having-  loved  His  own  that  were 
in  the  world  He  loved  them  unto  the  end.  Christ's 
life  with  His  disciples  was  one  of  love.  His  influ- 
ence was  personal.  His  whole  intercourse  with 
them  was  one  of  love.  In  the  13th  chapter  of  John 
you  will  remember  Christ  said  unto  them,  "A  new 
commandment  I  g-ive  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  an- 
other." This  commandment  differed  from  all  other 
commandments,  and  yet  it  contained  them  all.  It 
was  a  new  commandment  Christ  alone  could  give, 
because  He  had  revealed  a  new  love,  and  would 
give  it  in  the  heart  by  giving  His  Spirit  there.  I 
tell  you,  love  one  another.  By  this  shall  men  know 
that  ye  are  my  disciples  if  you  love  one  another. 
In  the  15th  chapter  He  says  again,  "This  com- 
mandment have  I  given  unto  you  that  ye  love  one 
another."  In  the  17th  chapter  He  prayed,  "That 
they  may  be  one  as  we  are  one,  that  the  world  may 
know  Thou  hast  loved  me  and  hast  sent  me  and 
hast  loved  them  as  Thou  hast  loved  me."  The 
world  is  to  know  the  love  of  God  through  Christ  by 
our  love  to  one  another.  So  we  are  taught  that  the 
great  mark  of  the  believer  is  that  he  is  to  be  a  man 
of  love.  Dear  friends,  how  little  the  world  under- 
stands that;  how  little  the  church  understands  that; 
how  little  it  is  preached,  or  proved  in  practice,  that 
love  is  actually  the  chief  thing  for  every  believer  to 
set  his  heart  upon.     How  little  can  believers  say 


34  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

before  God,  "Thou  knowest  I  pray  for  one  thing", 
fill  me  with  love;  I  study  one  thing-,  how  can  I  be 
filled  with  love?"  The  Lord  Jesus  came  to  bring 
love  back  to  the  world.  He  did  so  when  He  died 
on  Calvary,  it  was  the  triumph  and  the  revelation 
of  love.  And  now  He  calls  us  to  dwell  and  to  walk 
in  love.  He  demands  that  though  a  man  hate  you 
still  you  love  him.  True  love  cannot  be  conquered 
by  anything  in  heaven  or  upon  the  earth.  The 
more  hatred  there  is  the  more  love  triumphs  through 
it  all  and  shows  its  true  nature.  This  is  the  love 
that  Christ  commanded  His  disciples  to  exercise. 
John  in  his  epistle  says  that  Christ  laid  down  His 
life  for  us,  therefore  we  ought  to  lay  down  our  life 
for  the  brethren.  How  little  men  understand  that. 
Look  at  the  disciples.  How  often  there  were  dis- 
sensions among  them;  more  than  once  they  disputed 
as  to  who  should  be  chief  in  the  kingdom,  there 
was  pride  because  of  their  want  of  love.  Love  is 
humility.  Love  says,  I  only  exist  to  be  a  blessing 
to  others.  Love  cannot  be  selfish;  it  loves  as  Jesus 
loved.  The  disciples  whom  Christ  had  chosen  had 
to  be  taught  many  things,  but  one  chief  object  was 
to  let  us  see  what  human  nature  is  and  how  incap- 
able it  is  of  the  higher  life,  of  love  like  Christ's, 
until  the  Holy  Spirit  comes. 

2.  When  Jesus  Christ  had  revealed  love  on 
earth  and  had  done  the  work  of  redeeming  love,  the 
Holy  Spirit  came  from  heaven  to  bring  His  love 
down  to  our  hearts.  We  ought  to  think  of  Pente- 
cost as  it  brought  the  very  life  and  love  of  Jesus  into 
the   hearts   of  His  disciples.       So  it  was  that  Peter 


THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IS  LOVE.  35 

could  speak  out  of  the  very  Spirit  of  Jesus.  The 
disciples  learned  not  only  to  love  each  other,  but 
even  their  enemies.  We  talk  of  their  boldness  be- 
cause that  comes  out  in  contrast  to  their  cowardice; 
it  was  the  redeeming  love  of  Christ  that  came  to 
take  possession  of  them;  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
broug-ht  down  from  heaven.  In  the  second  and 
the  fourth  chapters  of  Acts  we  read  that  they  were 
of  one  heart  and  one  soul.  During  the  three  years 
they  had  walked  with  Christ  they  never  had  one 
heart  and  one  soul.  All  Christ's  teaching  could  not 
make  them  of  one  heart  and  one  soul.  But  the 
Holy  Spirit  comes  from  heaven  and  sheds  the  love 
of  God  in  their  hearts  and  they  are  of  one  heart  and 
one  soul.  The  same  Holy  Spirit  that  brought  the 
love  of  heaven  into  their  hearts  must  fill  us  too. 
Nothing  less  will  do.  Even  as  Christ  did,  one 
might  preach  love  for  three  years  with  the  tongue 
of  an  angel,  that  would  not  teach  any  man  to  love 
unless  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit  come  upon  him 
to  bring  the  love  of  heaven  into  his  heart.  If  we 
wait  upon  the  Holy  Spirit  and  yield  ourselves  to 
Him  He  will  fill  us  with  the  love  of  God.  Look  at 
this  as  we  have  it  here  in  our  text.  It  is  in  our 
daily  life  and  conduct  that  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
love;  from  that  there  comes  all  the  graces  and  vir- 
tues in  which  love  is  manifested:  joy,  peace,  long- 
suffering,  gentleness,  goodness;  no  sharpness  or 
hardness  in  your  tone,  no  unkindness  or  selfishness; 
meekness  before  God  and  man.  You  see  that  all 
these  are  the  gentler  virtues.  I  have  often  thought 
as  I  read  those  words  in  Colosians,  "Put  on  there- 


36  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

fore  as  the  elect  of  God,  holy  and  beloved,  bowels 
of  mercies,  kindness,  humbleness  of  mind,  meekness, 
longsuif ering, "  that  if  we  had  written,  we  should 
have  put  in  the  foreground  the  manly  virtues,  zeal, 
courage  and  diligence;  but  we  need  to  see  how  the 
gentler,  the  most  womanly,  virtues  are  specially 
connected  with  dependence  upon  the  Holy  Spirit. 
These  are  indeed  heavenly  graces.  They  never 
were  found  in  the  heathen  world.  Christ  was 
needed  to  come  from  heaven  to  teach  us.  Your 
blessedness  is  longsuffering,  meekness,  kindness; 
your  glory  is  humility  before  God.  The  fruit  of 
the  Spirit,  that  He  brought  from  heaven,  out  of  the 
heart  of  the  crucified  Christ  and  that  He  gives  in 
our  heart,  is  first  and  foremost,  love. 

Don't  you  see  that  if  this  is  really  true,  our  great 
desire  in  asking  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit,  our 
great  study  now  that  we  are  talking  about, the  fill- 
ing of  the  Spirit,  and  how  to  be  filled  v/ith  power 
by  the  Spirit,  our  great  aim  and  study  must  be  to 
get  hold  of  this  thought,  if  we  are  to  have  the  Holy 
Spirit  we  must  give  up  ourselves^  give  up  self  to  live 
the  life  of  love.  How  sadly  has  this  been  wanting? 
"What  shall  I  say  about  the  divisions  throughout  the 
Church  of  Christ?  How  the  most  precious  truths 
given  by  Christ  to  unite  us  have  been  made  bar- 
riers of  separation.  Take  the  Lord's  Supper. 
What  terrible  quarrels  between  Reformed  Lutherans 
about  the  meaning  of  the  simple  words,  *'This  is 
my  body."  What  was  meant  as  a  bond  of  union  is 
a  badge  of  separation.  Alas!  how  little  the  Divine 
beauty,  the  Divine  supremacy  of  love  has  been  seen. 


THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IS  LOVE.  37 

Our  doctrines,  our  creeds  hare  been  more  important 
than  love.  In  these  later  times,  even  the  baptism 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  a  cause  of  separation.  Let  us 
learn  not  to  expect  that  ever3^one  should  think  the 
same  or  express  themselves  in  the  same  way;  let 
our  first  care  be  to  exercise  love,  g-entleness,  kind- 
ness. We  often  think  we  are  valiant  for  the  truth, 
and  we  forg-et  that  God's  word  commands  us  to 
speak  the  truth  in  love.  How  often  one  hears  that 
even  away  out  among-  the  heathen  or  mission 
stations  there  are  too  often  divisions  and  coldness 
among-  those  who  are  working-  for  God.  Because 
of  differences  of  temperament  or  opinion,  estrang-e- 
ments  and  jealousies  come  in  and  love  waxes  cold. 
What  a  sad  thing-  in  the  church  that  earnest  Christ- 
ians who  have  g-iven  up  all  for  Christ  have  never 
learned  the  mystery  of  love.  Is  it  any  different  at 
home?  Is  there  not  often,  in  the  circles  where  we 
meet  tog-ether,  in  church  councils,  and  committees, 
in  missions  and  associations,  a  want  of  that  love 
among-  fellow-workers,  which  is  the  true  mark  of 
the  presence  of  the  Holy  Ghost?  Is  there  not  often 
harsh  judg-ment,  evil-speaking-,  etc.,  all  because  the 
love  of  Christ  has  not  been  allowed  to  take  com- 
plete possession.  Is  there  not  often  even  in  the 
family  the  outburst  of  temper  and  haste?  Alas! 
we  have  not  learned  to  love,  have  not  even  learned 
to  count  love  the  chief  fruit  of  the  Spirit.  We  must 
learn  to  take  this  word  as  the  true  test  of  life  in 
the  Spirit.  All  our  desire  to  be  filled  with  the 
Spirit  must  center  here,  to  have  self  sunk  down  in 
willing-ness  and  humility,  and  to  have  the   love   of 


38  THE   SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

God  and  Jesus  become  the  life  of  our  life.  I  want 
to  lead  you  to  the  life  in  which  love  is  supreme,  in 
which  love  shall  bow  you  down  in  such  deep  hum- 
ility that  g-o  where  you  will  and  let  man  do  what 
they  will,  you  shall  say,  by  the  help  of  God  I  must 
love.  Let  us  bring-  our  whole  life  to  the  looking- 
glass  of  this  word  of  God.  Let  us  think  of  the 
church  and  Christians  around  us.  When  you  have 
looked  around  well  then  look  at  yourself  and  sa}", 
"Oh  God,  I  ask  Thee  so  often  to  fill  Thy  church 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Have  I  been  filled  with  the 
Spirit  of  love?"  You  know  what  John  says,  *'No 
man  hath  seen  the  Father  at  any  time.  If  we  love 
one  another  God  dwells  in  us."  That  is,  I  cannot 
see  God,  but  as  a  compensation  I  can  see  my  brother 
and  if  I  love  him  God  dwells  in  me.  Is  that  really 
true?  That  I  cannot  see  God,  but  I  must  love  my 
brother,  and  God  will  dwell  in  me.  Loving  my 
brother  is  the  way  to  real  fellowship  with  God. 
You  know  what  John  further  says  in  that  most 
solemn  test,  1  John,  4:20,  *'If  a  man  says  he  loves 
God  and  hates  his  brother  he  is  a  liar;  for  he  that 
loveth  not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  how  can 
he  love  God  whom  he  hath  not  seen?"  There  is  a 
brother,  a  most  unlovable  man.  He  worries  you 
every  time  you  meet  him.  He  is  of  the  very  oppo- 
site disposition  to  yours.  You  are  a  careful  business 
man  and  you  have  g"ot  to  do  with  him  in  your  busi- 
ness. He  is  most  untidy,  unbusiness-like.  You 
say  I  cannot  love  him.  Oh  friends,  you  have  not 
learned  the  lesson  that  Christ  wanted  to  teach  above 
everything-.     Let  a  man  be  what  he  will  you  are  to 


THE  FRUIT  OF  THE  SPIRIT  IS  I.OVE.  39 

love  him.  Love  is  to  be  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  all 
the  day  and  every  day.  Yes,  listen,  if  a  man  loves 
not  his  brother  whom  he  hath  seen,  if  you  don't 
love  that  unlovabley  man  whom  you  have  seen,  how 
can  you  love  God  whom  you  have  not  seen?  You 
can  deceive  yourself  with  beautiful  thoug-hts  about 
loving-  God.  You  must  prove  your  love  to  God  by 
your  love  to  your  brother;  that  is  the  one  standard 
God  will  judge  your  love  to  Him  by.  If  the  love  of 
God  is  in  your  heart  you  will  love  your  brother. 
The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love.  The  first  thing-  you 
need,  if  you  want  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  in  any 
real,  full  sense  of  the  word,  you  must  not  only  have 
Himtakepossession  of  your  will,  but  you  must  yield 
up  your  heart  and  life  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  of 
love. 

Nothing-  can  enable  you  to  live  such  a  life  of  love 
but  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  two  texts 
are  inseparably  connected.  "Be  filled  with  the 
Spirit,"  "The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love."  If  a  man 
wants  to  have  the  fruit  of  an  apple  tree  he  must 
plant  the  apple  tree.  You  must  have  the  tree  if 
you  want  the  fruit.  If  you  want  to  be  filled  with 
the  love  of  God  you  must  be  filled  with  the  Spirit. 
You  must  come  with  the  humble  confession  of  how 
little  you  have  loved,  or  even  desired  to  be  full  of 
love.  You  have  soug-ht  for  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  your  work  in  pride  and  selfishness  You 
have  not  g-iven  up  yourself  to  Him  to  be  filled, 
first  of  all,  with  love,  with  gentleness  and  humility 
and  meekness.  Oh!  come  and  make  confession,  and 
let  Christ  cleanse  you  from  the  selfishness  and  pride 


40  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

and  unloving-ness.  Seek  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit 
for  a  daily  life  of  humility  and  love,  and  the  power 
of  the  Spirit  for  service  will  come. 

Brother,  do  you  want  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit 
of  God?  Is  it  true?  Do  you  really  want  to  be  filled 
with  love  that  you  may  be  the  humblest,  gentlest 
of  men,  so  that  everyone  may  know  that  you  are  a 
disciple  by  the  love  you  have?  Brethren,  if  we  love 
one  another  God  dwelleth  in  us  and  we  in  God,  and 
then  we  can  be  perfected  in  love.  Is  that  an  attain- 
ment of  ours?  It  is  a  g-ift,  a  bestowment  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  I  hope,  in  the  evening-,  to  speak 
about  the  hindrances  to  this  life,  how  it  comes  that 
this  life  in  the  Spirit,  this  love  of  the  Spirit,  walk- 
ing- after  the  Spirit,  made  free  by  the  Spirit,  in- 
dwelt by  the  Spirit,  having-  the  witness  of  the 
Spirit,  what  it  is  that  hinders  these  in  our  life. 
How  it  is  that  Christ  has  g-iven  the  Spirit,  that  the 
Spirit  is  in  the  church,  and  her  life  is  so  feeble. 
But,  meantime;  let  us  first  in  confession  ask  God  to 
forg-ive  us  our  shortcomings;  let  us  in  prayer  and 
faith  yield  ourselves  and  let  God  fill  us  with  the  Spirit 
of  love.  Let  us  even  now  absolutely  and  entirely 
give  ourselves  to  be  just  vessels  filled  with  the  love 
of  God.  Let  us  even  now  say  to  God  that  we  accept 
the  lesson,  that  the  Spirit  comes  to  fill  us  with  the 
love  of  heaven,  with  a  love  that  makes  loving 
others  the  one  joy  of  our  life;  that  we  yield  our- 
selves to  it,  and  that  by  His  grace  we  will  make 
this  our  one  object  and  desire.  May  God  write  it 
in  our  hearts.  The  Holy  Spirit's  fruit  and  chief 
work  is  to  give  Christ  and  the  love  of  God  in  us  for 
our  every  day  life.  By  His  grace  we  can  live  lives 
of  unceasing  love. 


THE  SELF-LIFE.  41 


Ube  SelMlfe—XTbc  Din^rancc  to  tbc 
Spiritual  Xife. 


Let  me  beg-in,  for  the  sake  of  any  who  are  here 
for  the  first  time,  by  saying-  a  word  about  what  we 
are  doing*  and  where  we  are. 

These  meeting-s  are  not  simply  for  the  discussion 
or  exposition  of  scriptural  truth,  but  have  all  a  very 
definite,  practical  object.  Their  starting-  point  is 
very  simple.  Many  Christians  feel  that  their  life 
is  not  rig-ht.  They  long-  to  have  their  life  put 
rig-ht,  and  ask  the  question,  "Is  it  possible  to  live 
as  God  would  have  us  do?"  We  desire  to  come  and 
show  them  exactly  what  it  is  that  is  wrong-,  and  ex- 
actly what  it  is  that  God  is  willing-  and  able  to  do 
for  them,  and  then  to  bring-  them  to  take  the  step 
by  which  they  pass  out  of  the  wrong-  state  into  the 
life  that  is  well  pleasing-  to  God.  This  is  our  work, 
and  I  do  pray  you  in  great  love,  every  one,  to  set 
aside  any  tendency  to  come  and  merely  to  listen  to 
the  exposition  of  truth.  We  have  such  a  terrible 
habit  of  g-oing-  to  church  to  listen  and  to  learn  and 
to  think,  while  the  heart  often  remains  untouched, 


42  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

that  we  get  into  the  habit  of  listening-  to  the  most 
solemn  things  without  any  practical  result.  Let  us 
try  and  come  into  God's  presence  tonight,  and  in  His 
presence  to  say,  "If  there  is  anything  wrong  about 
me  I  pray  God  to  set  it  right."  Let  there  be  in  our 
hearts  a  hungering  after  righteousness. 

We  began  yesterday  morning  by  looking  at  the 
two  sides  of  the  Christian  life,  the  carnal,  fleshly 
side,  in  which  a  believer  is  continually  sinning,  and 
then  at  the  spiritual  side  in  which  the  Holy  Spirit 
helps  a  man  to  conquer  and  makes  a  man  really  a 
spiritual  man.  Yesterday  evening  we  went  on  to 
look  at  the  spiritual  side  and  we  found  in  Romans 
eight  the  description  of  what  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
do  for  a  believer  who  gives  way  to  Him.  The  Holy 
Spirit  will  make  him  a  free  man,  free  from  the  law 
of  sin  and  death.  The  Holy  Spirit  will  dwell  in 
him,  will  lead  him  and  teach  him  to  walk  after  Him 
as  his  guide.  The  Holy  Spirit  will  come  into  him 
as  a  Divine  life  power  to  mortify  and  make  dead  the 
deeds  of  the  body,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  will  come 
into  him  to  bear  a  definite,  heavenly,  living  witness 
that  He  is  in  him.  This  morning  we  went  further. 
How  will  such  a  life  look  when  a  man  has  to  act  it 
out  in  his  daily  walk,  and  we  took  one  word  as  the 
standard  God  gives:  "The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is 
love."  We  said  if  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  and  fills  a 
man,  the  man  will  live  a  life  full  of  love  amid  all 
dif&culties  and  trials  and  temptations. 

And  now  this  evening  comes  the  question'  if  that 
be  true,  if  the  Holy  Spirit  will  set  me  free  from  the 
law  of  sin  and  death;  if  the  Holy  Spirit  will  mortify 


THK   SELF-LIFE.  43 

the  deeds  of  the  body,  why  is  it  that  I  do  not  live 
that  life?  If  love  be  the  fruit  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  I  have  the  Holy  Spirit  given  me  in  conversion, 
why  is  it  I  do  not  live  such  a  life  of  perfect  love,  and 
that  so  few  live  it?'  There  must  be  some  terrible 
hindrance.  And  so  there  is.  The  hindrance  is 
just  one  word,  one  little  word  of  four  letters, 
"s-e-l-f."  The  life  of  God  and  the  life  of  Christ 
and  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit  are  all  waiting-  to 
come  into  you.  But  on  one  condition:  you  must 
lose  your  own  life.  Give  it  up  and  God  will  give 
you  the  new  life.  But  if  you  allow  self  to  live  in 
you  and  have  its  way  even  partially,  it  hinders  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  though  you  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  you  as  a  child  of  God  He  cannot  do 
His  work  in  power. 

Now  I  want  to  tell  you  how  you  can  get  rid  of 
this  hindrance.  My  text  is  Matt  16:24.  "Then 
said  Jesus  unto  His  disciples,  if  any  man  will  come 
after  me,  let  him  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross 
and  follow  me."  What  must  he  do?  He  must  deny 
himself;  he  must  deny  self.  If  a  man  wants  to  be 
my  disciple  he  must  deny  himself  and  he  must  take 
up  his  cross  and  follow  me.  We  all,  by  nature,  fol- 
low self.  Every  man  does  it.  It  is  natural.  Christ 
says  we  must  give  up  self,  must  forever  give  up  list- 
ening to  self,  and  listen  to  Him  alone.  Take  Him 
in  the  place  of  self,  give  up  the  life  of  self  and  take 
Him  to  be  your  life.  Let  us  try  and  understand  the 
connection  in  which  this  wonderful  word  comes  to 
us.  You  remember  how  in  Caesarea  Philippi,  Christ 
asked  His  disciples,  "Whom  do  men  say  that  I,  the 


44  THE   SPIRITUAI.   LIFE. 

son  of  man,  am?"  They  gave  Him  the  different 
answers  that  men  were  giving,  and  He  then  said, 
"But  whom  say  ye  that  I  am?"  Peter  answered  for 
the  rest,  "Thou  art  the  Christ,  the  Son  of  the  living 
God."  And  listen  to  what  Christ  said,  "Blessed 
art  thou,  Simon  Barjona,  because  thou  knowest 
this.  Thou  art  blessed  because  thou  knowest  that 
I  am  the  Son  of  God."  And  what  more  does  He 
say?  "Flesh  and  blood  has  not  revealed  this  unto 
you  but  my  Father  which  is  in  heaven."  God,  my 
Father  has  been  teaching  you  by  His  Holy  Spirit 
and  you  have  learned  that  I  am  the  Son  of  God. 
The  disciples  did  not  learn  it  in  their  catechism  in 
those  days;  their  mothers  did  not  teach  it  to  them; 
Christ,  Himself,  did  not  say  in  so  many  words, 
" Now  remember,  I  am  the  Son  of  God."  But  He 
lived  as  the  Son  of  God,  and  God  taught  them  to 
know  Him  as  Christ.  Then  Christ  goes  on  and 
says  those  two  wonderful  things.  "Upon  this  rock 
will  I  build  my  church,"  and  "I  will  give  unto  thee 
the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven."  Think  of 
those  four  things  spoken  to  Peter.  "Blessed  art 
thou,  Simon  Barjona,"  "The  Father  Himself  hath 
revealed  it  to  thee,"  "On  this  rock  I  will  build  My 
church,"  and  "I  will  give  unto  thee  the  keys  of  the 
kingdom  of  heaven."  And  now  what  comes?  Peter 
is  up  in  the  heights.  Peter  has  learned  a  great  heav- 
enly lesson.  And  what  comes  now?  Christ  begins  to 
tell  them,  ' '  You  must  know  what  must  come.  They 
are  going  to  take  me  and  kill  me.  I  will  have  to  be 
crucified  but  the  third  day  I  will  rise  again." 
Peter  said,  "God  forbid.     Far  be  that  from  Thee." 


THE   SELF-LIFE-  45 

In  the  marg-in  it  is  properly  translated  "Pity  thy- 
self." Peter  says,  "Have  mercy  upon  thyself. 
Why  dost  thou  speak  thus,  Lord?  Pity  thyself. 
That  shall  never  be."  But  Christ  says,  "Get  thee 
behind  me,  Satan."  It  is  such  a  hellish  thing-  that 
you  have  said,  it  is  Satan  that  has  taug-ht  you, 
will  you  learn  a  lesson  now?  The  same  man  who 
an  hour  ago  had  been  saying-  things  that  God  had 
taught  him  began  to  say  things  that  the  Devil  had 
taug-ht  him.  What  a  wonderful  thing  is  a  con- 
verted but  unsatisfied  man;  he  has  the  Spirit  of  God 
in  him  but  he  has  a  deal  of  the  Devil  in  him,  too. 
Then  Christ  says,  after  having-  spoken  about  His 
own  cross  and  His  own  death,  "If  any  man  will 
come  after  me,  let  him  take  up  his  cross."  That 
means  "Peter,  it  is  not  only  I  that  have  g-ot  to  die, 
but  you,  too.  Not  only  I  must  be  crucified,  but  you 
must  take  up  your  cross.  Peter,  you  are  frig-htened 
at  the  thought  that  I  am  going-  to  be  crucified,  but 
3-ou  have  to  be  crucified,  too."  Poor  Peter.  "If  a 
man  wants  to  be  my  disciple  he  must  deny  himself 
and  must  take  up  his  cross  and  he  must  follow  me." 
What  a  come  down  for  Peter.  Peter  was  up  in  the 
heavens.  Peter  was  living  in  the  higher  life,  re- 
joicing in  that  wonderful  word,  that  Christ  calls 
him  a  blessed  man  because  he  knew  that  He  was 
the  Son  of  God.  And  why  this  come  down?  Just 
because  Peter  has  not  given  up  all  his  thoughts  to 
the  teaching  of  God  and  the  Holy  Spirit.  Peter 
knows  a  great  deal  about  Christ  and  his  kingdom 
of  glory  but  he  does  not  believe  in  His  crucifixion. 
There  are  so   many   Christians   who  believe   in  a 


46  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

thousand  wonderful  and  beautiful  things  about 
Christ  but  they  do  not  believe  the  chief  thing-  of 
all,  that  of  taking  their  cross  and  being-  crucified 
with  Jesus.  Listen,  this  word  of  Jesus  teaches  us, 
as  well  as  Peter,  what  it  is  that  hinders  us  from 
understanding  Him  and  enjoying  Him,  and  He 
teaches  us  how  to  get  rid  of  this  trouble. 

I  want  to  speak  to  you  this  evening  about  self. 
Let  me  ask  these  questions. 

1.  Where  does  it  come  from,  this  self   that  has 
got  to  be  denied  and  crucified? 

2.  What  are  its  works? 

3.  How  can  it  be  conquered? 

4.  What  have  I  got  to  do? 

In  the  first  place  what  is  this  self?  Christ  says: 
deny  self.  What  does  that  mean?  Peter,  instead 
of  denying  self,  denied  Jesus.  When  Christ  was 
being  led  before  Caiphas,  three  times  he  said,  "I 
do  not  know  the  man.  I  have  nothing  to  do  with 
Him."  And  he  said  that  with  an  oath.  If  any 
man  were  to  say  to  you,  "You  have  stolen  my 
watch,"  you  would  be  indignant  and  would  deny 
the  charge.  Even  so  Peter  denied  Jesus.  Jesus 
had  told  him  to  do  j ust  the  opposite.  ' '  Peter,  there 
is  one  thing  you  must  deny  and  that  is  your  own 
self,  your  own  life,  your  own  will."  But  where  did 
I  get  that  self  from?  Did  not  God  create  that  self 
in  me?  Of  course  He  did.  Every  man  and  angel 
has  got  a  self  that  comes  from  God's  hands.  God 
gave  me  a  self-determining  power  by  which  I  can 
say  what  I  want  to  do  with  myself,  and  what  for? 
That  every  day  I  may  come  to  God  and  bring  my- 


THE  SELF-UFE.  47 

self  for  him  to  fill,  and  find  my  blessedness  in  wait- 
ing- upon  Him  and  receiving  of  His  fullness.  But 
what  a  ruin  sin  has  wrought.  Listen  for  a  moment 
while  I  speak  to  jou  of  something  that  was  before 
ever  man  came  on  this  world.  The  throne  of  God 
was  surrounded  by  bright  spirits,  all  pure  and  per- 
fect. One  of  the  brightest  of  these  pure  spirits 
began  to  look  at  himself  and  wonder  at  all  the 
beauty  and  glor}'  God  had  given  him.  He  admired 
himself  and  pride  came  into  his  heart  and  he  began 
to  say,  "I  am  as  God."  He  turned  his  desire  from 
God  to  self;  he  thought,  "It  is  not  right  that  I 
should  be  subject  to  this  God."  And  he  lifted  up 
himself  and  said,  "I,  the  morning  star,  the  prince 
of  light,  am  I  not  the  chief  among  the  powers  of 
heaven?"  He  turned  away  from  God  to  self  and 
pride  entered  his  heart,  and  he  fell  out  of  light 
into  darkness,  and  was  changed  from  an  angel  into 
a  devil,  from  the  brightness  of  heaven  into  the 
blackness  and  outer  darkness  of  everlasting  hell. 
That  is  what  pride,  that  is  what  self  did  for  that 
angel.  Instead  of  turning  to  God  he  turned  to 
himself  and  he  fell.  Then  God,  to  restore  all  this 
glor}^  created  man  that  in  man  His  own  Son  might 
show  forth  His  glory.  He  said  to  man,  "I  have 
given  you  a  self,  but  let  that  self  always  turn  to 
me  and  you  shall  always  stand  in  the  light.  Do 
my  will  and  I  will  fill  you  with  life  and  blessing 
everlasting.  But  alas,  the  Devil  came  to  man  be- 
cause he  hated  him  as  he  thought  of  what  man 
might  become  as  the  king  of  the  world.  He  came 
to  Kve  and  said,  "If  you  eat  of  that   fruit  you   will 


48  THE  SPIRITUAI,    LIFF;. 

be  like  God."  He  not  only  spoke  these  words,  but 
in  and  with  these  words  he  breathed  into  her  ear 
and  heart  the  very  poison  of  hell,  his  own  hellish 
pride.  He  said  to  her,  "You  can  be  i:ke  God,  go 
and  eat  of  that  tree."  Alas,  she  and  Adam  barkened 
and  the  very  poison  of  hell  entered  into  their  blood 
and  that  self  that  lifted  itself  ag-ainst  God,  and 
turned  away  from  Him,  became  their  nature.  And 
so  you  and  I,  who  are  born  of  that  Adam  and  Eve, 
we  have  in  us  a  self  that  exalts  itself  ag-a.  nst  God. 
We  know  too  little  what  an  evil  nature  we  have 
within.  We  have  an  evil  nature  that  exalts  itself 
against  God  and  over  our  fellowmen.  The  whole 
history  of  the  human  race  is  nothing  but  one  great 
struggle,  man  against  man,  each  trying  to  exalt 
himself  higher  than  the  other.  One  wants  more 
power,  another  more  learning,  another  more  cul- 
ture, another  more  pleasure  than  anyone  else 
around.  Alas!  Self  is  the  God  that  rules  the 
world.  There  is  not  one  exception.  Oh,  if  we  were 
but  conscious  that  we  have  this  evil  self  within  us 
how  we  would  cry,  "Deliver  me  from  this  monster, 
O,  my  God."  If  there  were  to  come  creeping  along 
here  a  poisonous  snake  and  making  straight  for 
some  one,  how  we  would  jump  away  and  say,  "Kill 
that  beast,  deliver  me  from  its  poison."  But  alas, 
we  are  blind  and  run  into  our  danger.  A  little 
child  has  sometimes  been  known  to  play  with  a 
snake.  I  know  a  home  in  South  Africa,  where  the 
mother  was  away  at  church  and  had  left  a  colored 
girl  in  charge  of  her  little  baby  just  learning  to 
creep  and  a  sister  a  few  years  old.     The  baby  was 


THE  SELF-LIFE.  49 

playing-  on  the  floor.  A  beautifully  colored  but 
poisonous  snake  came  into  the  room  and  lifting-  its 
head  made  ready  to  strike.  The  little  child,  all  un- 
conscious of  its  danger,  crept  along  toward  -what 
looked  so  beautiful.  As  the  snake  was  looking-  at 
it,  -just  ready  to  strike,  the  colored  girl  rushed  from 
behind  and  seized  the  child.  The  child  wished  to 
play  with  that  beautifully  colored  snake.  It  knew 
not  of  the  poison.  We  have  within  us  a  self  that 
has  its  poison  from  Satan,  that  has  its  poison  from 
hell  and  yet  we  cherish  and  nourish  it.  What  do 
we  not  do  to  please  self  and  nourish  self,  and  we 
make  the  devil  within  us  strong.  This  is 
the  reason  why  Christ  calls  us  entirely  to 
deny  self.  To  deny  self  means  that  you 
must  have  nothing  to  do  with  him.  If  you  did  not 
steal  that  watch  you  must  deny  it,  you  reject  with 
indignation  the  charge,  the  statement,  that  you 
stole  it.  So  you  must  reject  self.  You  ask  why. 
Christ  says  you  must  take  a  cross  and  nail  self  to 
the  cross.  You  ask  why.  Ah,  you  will  never  do 
what  Christ  says  until  you  see  the  satanic  origin  of 
self,  as  a  horrible  rebellion  against  God.  That  is 
its  origin,  it  comes  out  of  hell  and  drags  us  back 
to  hell. 

2.  Now  look  at  its  works.  Look  in  your  own 
life.  What  are  the  works  of  self?  They  are 
chiefly  these  three.  Self-will,  self-trust  and  self- 
exaltation.  First  let  us  look  at  self-will.  God 
created  me  with  a  will,  and  there  is  nothing  in  man 
more  noble  than  a  will.  Sometimes  people  speak 
about  having-  a  broken  will  or  too  strong  a  will.     If 


50  the;  SPIRITUAI.    LIFE. 

my  will  was  ten  times  as  strong  as  it  is,    it  would 
not  be  too  strong  if  it  is  given  up  to  God.      It   is 
the  great  power  with  which  a  man  can  serve   God. 
If  it  is  not  given   up  to   God   then  the   Devil   has 
power  to  move  it  and  self  leads  that  will  continually 
to  sin  against  God.     Self-will  rules  in  the  life  of 
every  natural  man.     He  says,    "I   do   what  I  like 
and  I  have  a  right  to  do  what  I  like."     But  I  find 
among  Christians  that  there  are  hundreds,  who,    if 
you  ask,  "Did  ever  you  understand  that  when  you 
became  a  Christian  it  was  on  the  condition  that  you 
promise  never  to  seek  your  own  will?"    They  will 
all  tell  you  they  never  understood  that.      But  that 
is  just  what  Christ  demands.     You  are  to  do  noth- 
ing but  what  God  wills.     You  are  to  give  up  your 
will;  self  is  to  have  no  say  in  your  life.      That^  is 
the  whole  secret  of  salvation,  to  give  up  your  will, 
your  self,  to  God.     His  will  is  the  manifestation  of 
what  is  in  His  heart,  and  if  I  take  my  will  like  an 
empty  cup  and  say,  "Fill  my  will  with  Thy  will," 
then  I  live  a  blessed  life.     Many  say,  "I  think  I  am 
a  Christian  and  I  must  of  course  do  the  will  of  God 
in  important  things,  but  in  the  little  things  I  can- 
not help  following  my  own  will."     No.     Self  is  the 
cause  of  all  our  sin  against  God,  and  all  our  wretch- 
edness.    Self-pleasing  is  another  of  the  works  of 
self.     The  whole  life  of  man   and  nature   has   the 
pleasing  of  self  as  its  moving  principle.     And  even 
Christians  seek  far  more  to  please  themselves  than 
to   please  God.      No  wonder  that    self    becomes 
strong  and  that  for   its  sake   we  sin  unceasingly 
against  the  law  of  love  to  God  and  man. 


TIIK   SKLF-I^IFK  51 

Another  work  of  self  is  self-confidence.  I  do  not 
know  a  more  remarkable  example  than  Peter. 
Christ  said  to  Peter,  "  Before  the  cock  shall  crow, 
thou  shalt  deny  me  thrice/'  Peter  said,  "  They 
may  all  forsake  Thee  but  I  will  never  leave  Thee," 
and  yet  he  denied  Christ  with  an  oath.  How  did 
that  come?  Simply  from  self-confidence.  Peter 
could  not  believe  of  himself  that  he  would  deny  his 
Lord.  He  said,  "  Thou  knowest  Lord  that  I  love 
Thee.  I  have  stood  so  much  persecution  for  Thy 
sake.  I  will  never  deny  Thee.  I  will  go  to  the 
death  with  Thee."  What  was  that  but  self-confi- 
dence? He  trusted  in  himself  and  he  fell.  A 
young"  person  often  says,  "  Six  months  ago  I  gave 
myself  to  the  Lord  and  I  had  such  a  bright  and 
happy  time  serving  Jesus,  but  some  way  or  other  I 
got  cold  and  went  back  and  what  is  the  reason?" 
My  answer  always  is,  "Only  one  thing,  you  trusted 
yourself."  He  says,  "No,  I  certainly  did  not.  I 
felt  that  I  was  a  poor  feeble  creature  and  could  do 
nothing.  I  did  not  trust  myself."  Ah,  but  my 
friend  you  did.  If  you  had  trusted  Christ,  He  never 
could  have  let  you  fall.  You  trusted  in  yourself. 
You  trusted  in  your  earnestness,  in  your  integrity 
or  something  in  yourself,  and  then  came  all  the 
trouble.  Just  so  with  many  of  you  who  tell  me,  "I 
cannot  live  the  life  I  want  to  live."  Here  is  the 
simple  reason.  You  have  been  trusting  self,  trust- 
ing to  be  able  by  mere  effort  and  mere  watchfulness 
to  gain  the  victory.  If  you  trusted  Christ  you 
would  not  fall.  You  have  not  given  up  self  to  the 
death,  to  trust  in  God  alone.     Does  not  your   heart 


52  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

beg-in  to  say,  "  God  have  mercy  upon  me  and  deliver 
me  from  self.  If  it  has  been  self  that  has  been 
tempting  me  to  look  away  from  Jesus,  that  has  been 
coming  between  Jesus  and  myself,  oh   God  deliver 

me." 

The  third  form  of  self  is  self-exaltation,  pride. 
Jesus  said,  "How  can  ye  believe,  who 
take  honor  one  from  another."  I  am 
not  speaking  now  of  the  people  of  the  world.  All 
the  wretched  history  of  the  world  is  owing  to 
pride.  But  I  am  speaking  about  Christians.  How 
much  of  touchiness  there  is  about  our  position.  If 
a  man  does  not  give  me  the  honor  I  think  I  ought 
to  have;  if  he  puts  me  down  to  a  lower  place  than  I 
expect,  how  sensitive  I  am.  How  much  envy  and 
jealousy  there  is.  Where  does  this  come  from? 
Self-exaltation.  I  ask  you  believers,  do  not  you 
know  what  it  is  to  hare  a  heart  in  which  there  is 
constantly  coming  in  the  thought,  "There  I  was 
clever.  I  knew  how  to  manage  those  folks.  There 
I  made  a  beautiful  prayer."  How  often  those  things 
are  entertained  and  allowed  free  passage  for  a  time. 
How  often  in  the  presence  of  God  we  exalt  our- 
selves. A  man  can  be  proud  about  a  very  small 
matter.  He  can  be  proud  of  a  fine  head  of  hair,  a 
fine  suit  of  clothes,  his  learning  or  money.  There 
is  nothing  on  earth  that  a  man  cannot  be  proud 
about.  A  man  may  ride  on  a  very  fine  horse  and 
be  proud  about  that.  The  beast  does  not  make  the 
man  a  bit  better  and  yet  he  is  proud  about  it.  That 
is  just  the  way  the  Devil  befools  a  man.  This  ac- 
cursed self  from  hell  is  at  the  root  of  all  this.      A 


THE  SEI.F-LIFE.  53 

seeking-  of  our  own  honor.  God's  word  says,  God 
resisteth  the  proud.  Self  as  seen  has  corrupted  it,  and 
is  in  its  very  nature  proud  and  can  be  nothing"  else, 
therefore  Christ  says,  deny  self.  Does  not  your 
heart  beg-in  to  cry,  *'HowcanIget  free  from  self 
and  sin?" 

3.  How  can  it  be  conquered?  Christ  tells  us: 
"Let  a  man  deny  himself  and  take  up  his  cross  and 
follow  me."  He  puts  the  three  words  together,  but 
they  all  amount  to  the  same  thing.  The  first  is,  let 
him  deny  himself.  Let  him  say,  "I  have  nothing- 
to  do  with  self.  I  will  not  listen  to  it.  I  will  ig-- 
noreit."  That  is  what  Peter  said  when  he  denied 
Christ,  "  I  do  not  want  to  be  connected  with  Christ 
or  have  anything- to  do  with  Him."  So  we  must 
say  to  self,  "I  have  nothing-  to  do  with  it."  Then 
Christ  says,  "Take  up  the  cross."  The  cross  al- 
ways means  death.  Christ  could  not  explain  that 
to  them  further.  They  would  not  have  understood 
Him.  But  Christ  meant,  "Just  as  I  have  got  to 
give  up  my  life  and  be  crucified,  you  will  have  to  be 
crucified  spiritually."  And  that  is  what  Paul  says, 
' '  I  am  crucified  with  Christ.  No  longer  I  but  Christ 
liveth  in  me."  "And  follow  me."  Oh,  that 
blessed  word.  It  must  be  instead  of  myself^  Jesus, 
Himself.  Follow  me.  Here  is  a  choice  you  have 
to  make  between  these  two.  Shall  I  follow  self  or 
follow  Jesus?  Please  self  or  please  Jesus?  Deny 
self  or  deny  Jesus?  Remember  that  solemn  lesson 
of  Peter.  He  would  not  deny  self  and  what  did  he 
come  to?  He  denied  Jesus.  If  you  do  not  deny  self 
utterly  you  will  be  denying  Jesus  every  day.      You 


54  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

will  tell  the  world,  "I  have  nothing"  to  do  with   Je- 
sus just  now,  I  am  pleasing-  myself."     Now  Christ- 
ian, come  tonight  and  make  the  wonderful  exchange. 
Come  and  begin  to  understand  what  a  blessed  thing 
it  would  be  instead  of  self  to  follow   Jesus.      Peter 
did  follow  Jesus,  though  with  many  failures,    and 
where  did  Christ  take  him?     He  took  him  to  that 
place  where  he  denied  his  Lord  that  he  might  learn 
to  know  himself  thoroughly.     He  took  him  to  Geth- 
semane  to  show  him  how  little  he  could  watch  for 
one  hour;  then  to  the  cross  to  show  him  how  little 
he  could  suffer  with  him.       Then  He  took  him  to 
the  resurrection  and  showed  Himself  as  the  living 
Christ,  who  breathed  His  Spirit  into  him;  then  He 
took  him  to  the  ascension  mount  and  said,    "I  am 
going  to  heaven  and  the  Spirit  and  the  fire  will 
come."    He  led  him  to  the  place  where  he  received 
the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  then   and  not 
until  then  was  self  dethroned.     How  is  the  reign  of 
self  to  be  cast  out?     How  am  I  to  be  delivered  from 
this  secret  power  that   I  cannot  see  or  root  out? 
Christ  says,  "Deny  self,  take  up  your  cross  and  fol- 
low me."    Deny  self.     Take  up  the  cross  and  say, 
"I  desire  to  be  crucified  with  Christ;  I  desire  to  be 
made  conformable  to  His  death,"  then  follow  Christ 
with  your  whole  heart.      Christ  will  come  in   and 
rule.     You  know  the  story  of  the  strong  man  who 
kept  his  house  until  a  stronger  came  and  cast  him 
out.     But  the  stronger  one  did  not  stay  to  dwell. 
The  house  was  cleansed  and  garnished  but  empty. 
After  a  time  the  evil  spirit  with  seven  others  came 
in  and  dwelt  there.     It  is  not  enough  to  cast  out 


THE   SELF-UFE.  55 

self;  it  will  not  help  you  unless  He  comes  in;  Christ 
the  stronger  must  come  in  and  dwell  there,  and 
then  He  keeps  the  house  in  safety.  Let  us  all  deny 
that  cursed  self;  take  up  the  cross  and  follow  Him. 
He  will  take  us  to  the  place  of  safety  and  victory. 
4.  And  now  comes  a  few  words  as  to  what  we 
must  do.  Can  a  man  in  one  moment  deny  self  and 
be  freed  from  it,  or  is  it  the  work  of  a  lifetime. 
Both.  You  can  tonight,  if  God  gives  you  a  sight 
of  the  accursedness  of  self  and  what  self  has  really 
been  doing  all  the  years  of  your  Christian  life,  in 
one  step  take  your  place  in  the  position  of  a  man 
who  utterly  denies  self,  and  give  yourself  to  be 
possessed  by  Jesus.  You  can  do  that  in  one  minute. 
Many  do  not  do  this  because  they  are  not  ready. 
They  are  not  willing  to  confess  they  have  no  true 
insight;  that  self  is  the  only  cause  of  their  sin. 
But  I  ask  you  what  else  can  be  the  cause  of  all 
these  sins  that  have  made  you  unhappy?  temper, 
pride,  wilfulness,  worldliness,  self -pleasing.  It  is 
nothing  but  self.  Are  you  going  to  confess  that 
tonight?  My  life  might  have  been  full  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  and  full  of  Jesus,  full  of  humility  and  full  of 
God.  But,  alas,  what  has  my  life  been,  and  all 
through  that  cursed  evil  root  of  self.  I  did  not 
know  how  bad  it  was  and  how  it  was  running  my 
whole  Christian  life.  If  I  could  tear  it  out  of  my 
life  and  kill  it,  I  would  do  it  if  it  cost  me  blood. 
You  cannot  do  that.  But  you  can  do  something 
that  is  better.  You  can  come  and  quietly  condemn 
it  at  the  feet  of  Jesus  as  an  accursed  thing.  You 
can  cast  it  down  there  and  say,  ' '  Son  of  God,  I  f ol- 


56  THE  SPIRITUAL    I,IFE. 

low  Thee  with  my  whole  heart  to  the  very  utter- 
most. I  desire  to  follow  Thee  to  the  very  depths 
of  death.  I  desire  to  g^ive  myself  up  utterly  and 
wholly  to  Thee.  I  desire  to  take  Thee  and  let  Thee 
fill  my  whole  being-."  Believer,  Christ  can  do  it. 
I  know  I  am  speaking"  in  vain  if  there  is  any  one 
here  who  is  pretty  well  contented  with  himself. 
Any  one  who  says,  *'I  am  an  earnest  Christian,  I 
am  doing-  my  best.  I  am  not  what  I  oug-ht  to  be; 
but  I  do  fairly."  If  there  is  any  one  here  who 
thinks  thus,  I  have  not  much  hope  of  his  taking- 
this  step.  But  if  there  is  one  who  says,  "I  feel 
sinful,  I  feel  -wretched,  I  cannot  live  this  life  any 
long-er.  I  have  denied  my  Lord  Jesus  too  often  al- 
ready by  many  things  I  have  done;  but  now  no 
long-er.  I  have  tried  hard  but  have  failed.  I  now 
see  the  root  of  it  all.  Self  has  been  seeking  to 
conquer  its  own  evil  works,  and  has  only  been 
strengthened  all  the  time.  Come,  my  beloved,  and 
bring  self  and  lay  it  at  the  feet  of  Jesus.  Cast  it 
into  His  very  bosom  and  believe  tonight  that  the 
Son  of  God  is  coming  into  you  to  be  a  new  self,  to 
be  your  very  life,  because  He  will  live  in  you  by  His 
Holy  Spirit.  Paul  says,  "It  is  no  longer  I  but 
Christ  that  liveth  in  me."  You  may  not  be  able  to 
explain  it,  but  just  take  the  words  of  Paul,  "I  live 
no  longer  but  Christ  liveth  in  me."  It  is  no  longer 
the  old  I,  the  old  self,  it  is  Christ.  Oh  that  God 
might  give  us  a  sight  of  what  that  means.  And 
may  God  give  us  grace  to  take  the  step.  Nothing 
else  can  give  us  peace  or  make  us  holy.  ' '  Lord  Jesus ! 
come  in. "     Shall  we  say  this?     Are  you  willing  that 


THE   SELF-LIFE-  57 

God  search  you  tonight?  Come  then,  bow  your 
heads  and  beg-in  by  telling-  God  so.  And  then  let 
God  shine  into  your  hearts  and  let  Him  show  you 
what  a  cursed  thing-  this  self  has  been  in  your  life. 
Let  us  bow  before  God. 


SS  THE   SPIRITUAL   I^IFR. 


tlbe  Ibols  Spirit  in  Epbesians. 


We  are  speaking-,  in  these  lectures,  of  the  spirit- 
ual life.  I  told  you  on  Tuesday  morning  that  it  is 
a  great  thing  when  a  man  gets  a  vision  of  what  the 
spiritual  life  is,  and  of  the  fact  that  it  is  for  him. 
On  Tuesday  evening  and  yesterday  morning  I 
spoke  of  the  two  aspects  of  that  life — the  one,  the 
mere  doctrinal,  from  the  eighth  chapter  of  Ro- 
mans; and  the  other,  the  practical,  from  the  words, 
"The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love." 

I  wish  this  morning  to  keep  that  same  thought 
before  us;  because  I  believe,  the  more  deeply  we 
come  to  understand  that  God  means  us  to  live  the 
life  of  the  Holy  Spirit  the  more  clearly  we  see 
that  scripture  points  to  the  provision  God  has  made 
by  which  every  action  of  the  redeemed  life  may  be 
through  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  more  convinced  we 
shall  be  that  God  will  give  us  this  life,  and  the 
more  ready  we  shall  be  to  sacrifice  all  to  enter  into 
it.  I  think  it  may  help  us  to  take  a  little  Bible 
reading  on  this  subject  this  morning,  from  one  of 
the  epistles,  and  just  look  at  the  place  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  takes  in  the  Christian  life  as  exhibited  in  it. 

1.    Turn  to  the  Epistle  to  the  Ephesians,  chapter  1, 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT   IN  EPHESIANS.  59 

and  the  13th  verse.  "In  whom,  after  that  ye  be- 
lieved, (that  is,  in  Christ)  ye  were  sealed  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  of  promise."  We  have  here  first  of  all 
the  sealing  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 

"Believing-,  you  were  sealed."  Just  look  at  the 
three  thousand  on  the  day  of  Pentecost.  They  be- 
lieved and  were  baptized  and  received  the  Holy 
Ghost,  and  they  were  sealed  with  the  Holy  Spirit  of 
promise.  Now,youknowwhataseal  is.  The  sealing- 
of  a  letter  or  document  is  for  safety  and  confirma- 
tion. God  g-ives  to  His  child  at  conversion,  the 
Holy  Spirit  as  a  seal,  which  is  the  mark  of  God,  set 
upon  him  that  he  may  know  that  he  is  God's  re- 
deemed child.  That  seal  is  not  a  dead  one,  but  is 
the  living-  Holy  Spirit,  the  Holy  Spirit  of  promise. 
The  Holy  Spirit  seals  me  as  an  earnest  of  my  in- 
heritance, as  a  spirit  of  promise;  and  when  that 
Spirit  seals  me  I  am  to  trust  and  hope  for  all  God 
is  going-  to  do. 

If  I  am  to  live  a  healthy  Christian  life  I  must 
carry  the  living-  seal  of  the  living-  Spirit  of  God  in 
my  life  every  moment.  I  must  pray  to  God  for  this 
living-  heaven-born  consciousness  of  being-  the  child 
of  God  to  be  so  clear  that  every  moment  I  can  re- 
alize it.  The  father  of  a  family,  a  workman,  a  sol- 
dier, a  sailor,  every  man,  carries  about  with  him 
the  consciousness  of  what  he  is.  Just  so  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  so  enable  a  man  to  realize,  I  am  sealed 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  from  heaven,  that  He  will 
feel,  I  cannot  do  anything-  inconsistent  with  my 
position  and  nature.  The  Holy  Spirit  reminds  me 
I  am  God's  dear  child. 


60  the;  spiritual  life. 

2-  The  second  passage  you  find  at  the  17th 
verse:  "I  cease  not  to  give  thanks  for  you,  making 
mention  of  you  in  my  prayers;  that  the  God  of  our 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  the  Father  of  glory,  may  give 
unto  you  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation  in  the 
knowledge  of  Him;  the  eyes  of  your  understanding 
being  enlightened."  Here  we  have  the  Spirit  of 
illumination^  of  Divine  enlightenment.  After  hav- 
ing brought  them  to  see  that  they  were  sealed  with 
the  Holy  Spirit,  Paul  prays  for  them,  "Father,  give 
them  the  spirit  of  wisdom  and  revelation,  and  en- 
lighten the  eyes  of  their  hearts. "  He  prays  for  them 
because  he  wants  them  to  know  the  height  of  their 
calling  and  the  glory  of  their  inheritance  and  the 
power  of  Christ  working  in  them.  God  has  pre- 
pared for  us  in  Christ  just  ivonderfiil  riches.  Our 
calling  is  to  be  holy,  to  live  like  God's  sons.  Our 
heritage  is  rich  and  precious.  The  power  that 
works  in  us  is  the  resurrection  power  of  Christ  by 
which  God  raised  Him  and  set  Him  at  His  right 
hand.  That  mighty  power  is  working  in  us  human 
beings.  We  do  not  know  these  things  from  day  to 
day  because  we  do  not  continue  waiting  and  asking 
for,  and  yielding  to  the  Spirit  of  illumination.  He 
would  give  us  to  see  what  is  prepared  for  us  every 
day  in  Christ  Jesus. 

This  week  we  speak  about  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
next  week  about  the  Lord  Jesus,  showing  how  the 
Spirit  leads  to  Christ  and  out  of  Christ  the  Spirit 
comes  ever  more  abundantly.  Paul  prays  that  the 
Spirit  might  reveal  Christ  fully  to  them,  and  that 
they  might  know  what  they  have  in  Christ.     I  can 


THE   HOLY   SPIRIT   IN  EPHESIANS.  61 

not  read  my  Bible,  I  cannot  lead  a  Christian  life, 
unless  I  have  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Spirit  of  en- 
lig-htenment.  It  is  not  a  special  thing-,  but  just  for 
the  ordinary  Christian  life.  The  eyes  of  ray  heart 
are  darkened  by  sin;  every  day  I  raust  have  them 
illuminated  by  the  Holy  Ghost.  And  this  I  must 
pra}^  for;  it  comes  in  answer  to  humble  prayer,  wait- 
ing upon  God. 

3.  In  the  2nd  chapter  we  have,  in  the  18th  verse, 
"Through  whom  (Christ)  we  have  access  by  one 
Spirit  unto  the  Father."  This  is  the  Spirit  of  wor- 
ship whereby  we  are  brought  nigh  to  God  through 
Jesus  by  one  Spirit.  I  need  the  Spirit  if  I  want  to 
pra}',  I  need  Him  to  worship.  As  a  little  child  I 
used  to  say  every  day  to  my  father,  "Good 
morning."  Every  morning  I  need  to  enter  into 
God's  presence  and  cry  "Abba  Father,"  and  dwell 
near  to  God.  How  can  I  do  it?  Through  Christ, 
by  the  Holy  Spirit.  Many  people  speak  of  drawing 
nigh  to  God  through  the  blood  and  through  Christ. 
We  cannot  praise  God  too  much  for  Christ  and  the 
blood,  but  that  is  not  all,  there  are  many  who  don't 
know  what  it  means  to  draw  nigh  through  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Where  a  heart  is  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  there  the  access  and  abiding  in  God's  pres- 
ence is  no  longer  an  effort,  but  the  natural  spontan- 
eous breathing  of  the  Spirit.  A  man  cannot  live  a 
true  Christian  life  unless  he  has  the  Holy  Spirit 
living  in  him  every  moment.  He  must  know,  and 
be  conscious  that  by  the  Spirit  he  has  access  through 
Christ  unto  the  Father. 

4.  Our   next  step   is  the  Spirit   of  fellozvship. 


62  THK  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

Chap.  2:22.  "In  whom  ye  also  are  builded  togfether 
for  an  habitation  of  God  throug-h  the  Spirit."  That 
is  to  say,  that  each  one  of  you  is  not  to  be  built  up 
separate  from  the  others,  but  you  are  all  built  up 
tog-ether,  into  an  habitation  of  God,  so  many  living- 
stones  all  making-  up  the  one  building-.  You  could 
not  have  this  building-  in  which  we  meet  if  all  the 
stones  were  not  put  upon  each  other  and  united  and 
cemented  into  one  solid  body;  this  makes  the  house 
fit  to  live  in.  Just  so,  if  the  church  of  Christ  is  to 
be  what  God  wants,  it  is  to  be  His  habitation.  He 
is  to  dwell  in  the  body,  but  how?  We  are  so  self- 
ish, unloving;  we  have  so  little  union  with  each 
other.  How  am  I  to  have  a  larg-e  heart  for  every 
member  of  the  body?  The  Holy  Spirit  will  do  it. 
If  I  g-et  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  I  will  love  every 
brother  and  sister,  and  will  g-lory  in  the  body  of 
Christ.  Do  you  not  feel  that  here  the  g-reat  mis- 
chief in  our  Christian  life  lies.  We  do  not  know 
the  Holy  Ghost  and  all  He  is  going-  to  do  for  us. 
We  do  not  know  that  it  is  impossible  for  us  to  live 
a  full  Christian  life  unless  we  allow  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  do  all  His  work  in  us;  unless  we  accept  all  His 
blessed  workings.  Let  us  ask  God  to  show  us  how 
indispensable  it  is  that  the  Holy  Ghost  should 
triumph  in  us  individually  and  collectively  if  we  are 
to  answer  God's  purpose. 

5.  In  the  3rd  chapter,  5th  verse:  "The  mystery 
of  Christ,  which  in  other  ages  was  not  made  known 
unto  the  sons  of  men  as  it  is  now  revealed  unto  His 
holy  apostles  and  prophets  by  the  Spirit."  There 
you  have  the   Spirit  of   inspiration.       The   Holy 


THE   HOLY  SPIRIT   IN  EPHESIANS.  63 

Spirit  reveals  to  the  apostles  and  prophets  hidden 
divine  things.  In  the  first  chapter  it  was  the  Spirit 
of  illumination,  teaching-  every  individual  what  he 
has  in  Christ  and  what  Christ  can  do  for  him.  Here 
it  is  the  Spirit  of  our  practice  to  whom  we  owe  the 
Holy  Scripture,  and  the  knowledge  of  the  mysteries 
of  God  they  give.  The  thoughts  of  God's  heart 
are  large;  through  the  Holy  Spirit  He  rereals  to 
His  servants  the  prospects  of  God's  kingdom  and 
enriches  our  hearts  with  wonderful  thoughts  of  the 
glory  of  God.  Look  at  what  He  says  in  the  9th 
and  10th  verses:  "To  make  all  men  see  what  is  the 
fellowship  of  the  mystery,  which  from  the  begin- 
ning of  the  world  hath  been  hid  in  God,  who  created 
all  things  by  Jesus  Christ.  To  the  intent  that  now 
unto  the  principalities  and  powers  in  heavenly 
places  might  be  known  by  the  church  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God."  God  is  working  out  a  wonderful 
purpose  here  in  the  world.  If  I  come  to  some  great 
manufacturing  business,  and  they  take  me  about 
and  show  me  all  the  wonderful  machinery  they  have, 
I  exclaim:  "What  power  God  has  given  to  man! 
What  a  wonderful  endowment  the  mind  of  man  is!" 
But  now,  to  think  that  the  Everlasting  God  is 
working  out  a  plan  "to  the  intent  that  now  unto 
the  principalities  and  powers  in  the  heavenly  places 
might  be  made  known  by  the  church,  the  manifold 
wisdom  of  God."  Let  us  ask  for  the  Spirit  that 
inspired  the  Bible  to  reveal  to  us  the  wonderful 
glory  of  the  mystery  of  God.  We  have  the  Bible, 
but  we  do  not  understand  it,  unless  the  Holy  Spirit, 
as  our  Spirit  of  inspiration,  teach  us  to  enter  into 
God's  blessed  plan. 


64  THE  SPIRITUAL  I<IFK. 

6.  Verses  14-16,  same  chapter,  another  prayer  of 
Paul,  shows  us  the  Spirit  as  a  Spirit  of  strength^ 
This  is  a  wonderful  prayer.  In  the  first  prayer  it 
was  for  lights  that  you  might  know  what  you  have 
g-ot  in  Christ;  here,  for  strength^  that  you  may  re- 
ceive and  have  Christ  in  you.  In  the  first  chapter 
it  was  a  prayer  for  revelation,  here  it  is  a  prayer 
for  possession;  that  the  Holy  Spirit  might  strength- 
en and  Christ  dwell  in  you  by  faith  and  fill  you 
unto  all  the  fullness  of  God.  Paul  prayed  to  God 
for  the  Spirit  of  strengthening.  That  is  the  Spirit 
we  need  to  have  every  day.  I  pray  God  to  make  it 
clear  to  us.  If  you  only  saw  it  fully,  that  God  does 
not  mean  a  child  of  His  to  live  one  moment  without 
the  Holy  Spirit  you  would  see  how  impossible  it  is 
to  live  rightly  one  moment  without  His  unceasing 
operation.  Yet  how  can  God  do  it  if  I  do  not  pray, 
do  not  long  for  it,  to  have  Christ  dwelling  in  the 
heart;  and  how  can  I  be  filled  unto  the  fullness  of 
God  unless  I  believe  a  precious  promise  as  to  what 
God  will  do  by  the  Spirit,  like  this.  Plead  for  it, 
claim  it,  give  yourself  up  to  it. 

Dear  friends,  I  pray  you  take  this  blessed  Epistle 
alone  and  pray  over  it  step  by  step,  and  mark  down 
all  of  these  blessings.  We  have  heard  in  the  three 
chapters  of  the  sealing,  illumination,  worship,  fel- 
lowship, inspiration,  and  strengthening  of  the 
Spirit  leading  up  to  the  fullness  of  God.  But  is 
that  really  the  life  I  am  going  to  live?  was  this 
Bible  written  to  engage  or  please  our  intellect? 
Was  it  made  that  ministers  might  have  work  to  do, 
and  subjects  to  preach   sermons   on?       No!       This 


THB   HOI.Y  SPIRIT  IN  EPHESIANS.  65 

Bible  was  written,  this  Epistle  was  written,  that 
you,  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  mig-ht  live  every  day  ac- 
cording- to  it.  It  means  nothing-  unless  it  means 
that.  Let  us  try  to  find  out  what  God  says  about 
the  Holy  Spirit,  with  the  resolve,  I  am  g-oing  to 
claim  it  all;  the  Holy  Spirit  is  going  to  live  in  me 
and  make  it  a  reality 

In  studying  the  Epistle  you  will  notice  that  it 
consists  of  two  parts.  The  first  three  chapters  set 
forth  the  heavenly  life  of  the  believer  in  Christ,  you 
you  will  find  nothing  directly  practical  there.  It 
begins,  "Blessed  be  the  Father  of  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  who  hath  blessed  us  with  all  spiritual  bless- 
ings in  heavenly  places  in  Christ;"  these  are  then 
described  in  chapter  one.  Then  Paul  prays  that 
God  would  reveal  it.  "God  hath  quickened  you," 
"You  are  His  workmanship."  In  chapter  two  and 
three  it  is  the  heavenly  life  of  the  Christian,  ending 
with  prayer  and  worship.  The  three  last  chapters 
are  just  the  opposite.  They  lead  from  heaven  to 
earth.  The  heavenly  man  has  got  to  live  here  on 
earth,  in  the  world;  and  in  the  4th,  5th,  and  6th 
chapters  you  get  the  most  simple,  practical,  every- 
day applications  to  the  daily  life  you  can  find. 
These  heavenly  things  in  connection  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  His  divine  seal,  divine  illumination,  divine 
access  to  God,  divine  fellowship  bringing  us  into 
God's  temple,  divine  inspiration  of  God's  servants, 
divine  strengthening  in  the  inner  man — these  are 
all  hidden  spiritual  blessings. 

Now,  let  us  see  what  we  get  in  the  second  part  of 
the  Epistle. 


66  THE   SPIRITUAI.    LIFE. 

1.  There  you  have,  in  the  fourth  chapter,  the 
Spirit  of  love.  We  read  in  the  third  verse,  "En- 
deavor to  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the  bond 
of  peace."  In  going-  back  to  the  first  two  verses, 
you  see  how  necessary  it  is  to  have  the  Spirit  of 
love  and  humility  as  the  first  graces  of  the  Christ- 
ian life.  Paul  knew  that  there  is  no  want  so  pre- 
valent among  men  as  the  want  of  humility  and  of 
love;  and  so,  from  the  heavenly  heights  of  the  pre- 
vious chapters,  he  comes  down  and  says,  "Walk 
worthy  of  your  calling  as  Christians,  by  being  very 
humble,  and  being  very  loving;  bear  with  one  an- 
other, and  do  your  utmost  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  in  the  bond  of  peace.  How  much — as  I  have 
had  occasion  to  say  before — how  much  there  is 
among  Christians  of  want  of  love,  of  want  of  hu- 
mility; how  much  there  is  we  can  find  in  our  own 
heart  of  temper,  of  pride,  of  hatred,  unkindness, 
just  coming  out  of  that  cursed  flesh!  "Keep  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit."  But  am  I  not  under  the  power 
of  the  flesh?  Am  I  not  without  the  strength  to 
keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit?  The  flesh  cannot  do 
the  Spirit's  work.  I  am  to  keep  the  unity  of  the 
Spirit  by  yielding  to  the  Spirit.  We  read  in  chap- 
ter two  that  He  builds  up  believers  into  one  body 
as  the  habitation  of  God.  This  is  His  work.  I 
must  have  the  fullness  of  the  Holy  Ghost  if  I  am 
always  to  be  living  in  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace,  if  I  am  always  to  be  humble  and  lov- 
ing. Are  there  any  of  you  who  say,  "Oh  God  let 
my  life  become  perfect?"  You  must  have  the  Holy 
Spirit  dwelling  in  you  every  minute.     I  have  lived 


THE   HOLY  SPIRIT   IN  EPHESIANS.  67 

for  more  than  60  years  and  have  been  breathing-  the 
air  during-  all  that  time.  I  need  to  have  fresh  air 
every  moment,  I  cannot  live  on  the  air  I  breathed 
10  minutes  ago,  and  God  has  provided  for  its  being 
there.  Just  as  essential  as  air  is  to  your  natural 
life,  so  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  a  right  Christian  life; 
and,  if  we  want  that,  we  must  find  out  how  a  man 
may  come  to  live  every  moment  in  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  It  is  true,  I  cannot  be  thinking  about 
the  Holy  Spirit  all  day.  But  I  do  not  think  about 
the  air  either.  Even  as  with  the  air,  so  God  can 
keep  us  under  the  power  of  the  Spirit  all  the  day. 
As  we  begin  to  see  the  heavenly  possibilities  of  an 
actual  life  in  Christ  Jesus,  then  we  shall  understand 
that  we  can  indeed  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in 
the  bond  of  peace.  Oh,  shame  upon  us!  What 
does  every  little  finger  tell  you?  Every  little  fin- 
ger says,  "  I  am  at  the  service  of  the  head  and  at 
the  service  of  the  body."  You  believe  that  3'ou  are 
a  member  of  the  body  of  Christ,  do  be  assured  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  come  into  your  life  with  such 
love  and  power  that  you  will  indeed  keep  in  the 
unity  of  the  Spirit,  and  be  at  the  service  of  every 
member  of  the  body.  It  is  not  enough  that  you 
keep  in  the  unity  of  the  doctrines  of  your  church. 
Let  us  indeed  keep  the  unity  of  the  Spirit  in  the 
bond  of  peace!  Shall  we  not  say,  "God  help  us?" 
2.  Then  we  find,  further  on  in  the  fourth  chap- 
ter, another  very  practical  thing  connected  with  the 
Holy  Spirit.  We  see  there  He  is  the  Spirit  of  holi- 
ness. In  the  first  half  of  the  chapter  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  love,  here   He   is  the  Spirit  of  holiness. 


68  ths  spirituaIv  life. 

Paul  had  been  writing  about  a  number  of  sins. 
Read  from  the  25th  verse  to  the  31st.  Put  away 
all  these  things;  they  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God 
by  which  ye  were  sealed  unto  the  day  of  redemption. 
He  is  the  Spirit  of  holiness.  Saying  you  are  not  at 
home  when  you  are,  and  excusing  yourself  on  the 
ground  that  it  is  a  custom  of  society;  telling  an  un- 
truth to  get  out  of  trouble;  only  telling  a  half  truth 
or  giving  a  false  impression,  and  say  it  is  excusable 
because  you  did  not  want  to  hurt  the  feelings  of 
others;  whether  it  is  a  "black  lie"  or  a  "white  lie," 
you  grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God.  Bitterness, 
clamor,  and  evil  speaking,  just  telling  news  about 
others  you  need  not  tell;  the  facts  may  be  true  but 
you  talk  about  them  needlessly.  This  grieves  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Now,  don't  you  see  how  easily  we 
grieve  the  Holy  Spirit  and  the  absolute  necessity  of 
being  guided  by  the  Spirit  every  minute?  We 
speak  about  the  baptism  of  power.  "We  need  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  get  into  our  life^  to  sanctify  every 
act  of  our  being. 

3.  The  third  thing  we  have  in  the  second  half  of 
the  Epistle  is  in  the  5th  chapter,  9th  verse:  "For 
the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  in  all  goodness,  and  right- 
eousness, and  truth."  There  we  have  another 
practical  thing — the  friiitfulness  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
What  beautiful  fruit  the  Holy  Spirit  brings  forth! — 
kindness,  righteousness,  and  truth.  How  can  I  al- 
ways bring  forth  this  fruit  unless  I  always  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  within  me? 

4.  The  fourth  thing,  in  the  18th  verse  of  the 
same  chapter:     "Be  not  drunk  with  wine  but  be 


The  holy  spirit  in  ephesians.  69 

filled  with  the  Spirit."  Oh  what  a  word!  I  cannot 
beg-in  to  speak  about  it  at  this  time.  The  question 
is  this:  If  I  am  only  half  or  three-quarters  filled 
with  the  Spirit,  how  can  I  live  in  the  Spirit?  I 
must  have  Him  fill  my  whole  nature.  We  must  un- 
derstand this.  A  man  wants  his  lung's  filled  per- 
fectly with  the  fresh  air.  A  man  with  only  one- 
half  his  lung's  can  only  have  them  partly  filled  and 
we  count  him  diseased.  "When  a  man  cannot  get 
fresh  air  in  a  room  he  goes  outside  and  opens  his 
lungs.  We  must  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
God  offers  it  to  us.  It  is  not  a  spiritual  attainment, 
to  be  reached  by  a  long  process.  The  moment  a 
man's  whole  being  yields  to  the  Spirit  he  can  count 
upon  being  filled  with  the  Spirit.  Paul  was  writ- 
ing to  a  congregation  just  come  out  of  heathenism. 
He  had  to  tell  some  of  them  not  to  lie,  or  steal,  etc. 
He  wrote  to  them,  "Brethren,  do  not  do  that  which 
grieves  the  Holy  Spirit,  but  be  entirely  filled  with 
the  Spirit.  Obey  this  command  and  you  will  get 
right,  and  all  the  fruits  of  the  Spirit  will  be  mani- 
fested in  you." 

5.  In  the  last  chapter  we  have  two  more  blessed 
teachings,  both  most  precious.  In  the  Christian 
life  there  is  nothing  more  important  than  the  Word 
zxA prayer.  In  the  I7th  verse  we  read,  "Take  the 
helmet  of  salvation  and  the  sword  of  the  Spirit, 
which  is  the  word  of  God."  When  the  Spirit  of 
God  has  filled  one,  he  can  handle  the  sword  of  the 
Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of  God,  and  not  other- 
wise. This  is  the  reason  of  so  much  preaching 
without  fruit,    because  we  use   the   sword   of  the 


70  THE  SPIRITUAI,  LIFE. 

Spirit  without  being-  filled  with  the  Spirit.  The 
word  of  God  is  a  sword  in  a  double  way.  Every 
time  I  read  the  word  of  God  I  ought  to  let  the  word 
search  me,  and  He  must  come  like  a  two-edged 
sword  dividing  soul  and  Spirit,  entering  even  to  the 
very  joints  and  marrow  of  the  inner  man.  The 
Holy  Spirit  alone  can  do  that.  Then  it  is  also  the 
sword  of  the  Spirit  we  need  when  fighting,  not  only 
with  individual,  but  with  national  sins  and  un- 
righteousness. It  is  not  the  sword /take,  but  the 
sword  the  Spirit  takes  and  uses  through  me.  Re- 
member, all  of  you  who  are  preachers,  teachers, 
and  workers,  you  must  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit, 
He  must  be  in  you  all  the  time,  or  your  use  of  the 
word  will  be  vain.  The  Spirit  wants  to  live  in  us 
every  moment;  then  service  will  be  the  natural  out- 
come of  an  indwelling  life.  Only  let  the  Spirit 
have  possession.     He  will  use  you. 

6.  The  last  we  have  is  prayer,  *  *  Praying  al- 
ways with  all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the  Spirit 
and  watching  thereunto  with  all  perseverance  and 
supplication  for  all  saints."  The  Spirit  is  a  Spirit 
of  prayer  and  supplication,  and  Paul  stirs  them  up 
to  pray  continually  for  themselves  and  for  all  saints, 
and  for  him.  Remember,  friends,  if  there  is  one 
thing  we  need  to  be  sure  of,  it  is  that  God  has  given 
us  the  keys  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven  in  the  prom- 
ises of  prayer.  I  suppose  not  one  earnest  Chris- 
tian but  will  be  willing  to  confess,  that  if  he  gave 
time  enough  to  prayer,  if  he  learned  to  use  his  privi- 
lege, if  he  would  become  a  man  of  intercession,  he 
could  have  done  so  much  more  for  the  world.     How 


« 


THE   HOLY  SPIRIT   IN  EPHESIANS.  71 

can  we  g-et  that?  The  answer  is,  the  Holy  Spirit 
must  fill  and  rule  your  daily  life. 

Now,  friends,  what  is  the  application?  It  is 
very  simple.  First  we  all  want  to  say,  "Thank 
God  for  the  wonderful  revelation  of  what  the  Holy 
Spirit  can  do  to  me."  Then  let  us  ask  the  Spirit 
of  sealing-  to  let  each  one  know  every  moment  that 
he  is  a  child  of  God;  the  Spirit  of  illumination,  to 
have  the  Spirit  reveal  Christ  every  minute,  so  that 
I  can  always  know  what  I  have  in  Christ;  the  Spirit 
of  access  to  God,  to  lift  me  up  to  God  in  Christ;  the 
Spirit  of  fellowship  with  all  saints  round  about  me; 
the  Spirit  of  inspiration,  revealing-  truths  to  the 
apostles  and  to  us;  the  Spirit  of  streng-thening-, 
bring-ing-  from  heaven  the  divine  power  through 
which  Christ  dwells  in  our  heart  by  faith.  These 
are  the  aspects  on  the  heavenly  side. 

In  the  outward  life,  the  Spirit  of  lowliness  and 
love,  keeping  the  unity  ofthe  Spirit;  the  Spirit  of  hol- 
iness, never  grieving  Him  by  a  single  wrong  thing 
or  thought;  the  Spirit  of  fruitfulness,  bringing  forth 
in  me  all  kindness,  righteousness;  the  fullness  of 
the  Spirit,  so  that  I  may  expect  Him  to  take  pos- 
session of  every  faculty  of  my  being,  entirely  filling 
me;  the  sword  of  the  Spirit,  which  is  the  word  of 
God,  to  work  in  me  and  around  me;  last  of  all,  the 
Spirit  of  prayer,  lifting  rae  up  into  God's  presence 
to  plead  for  myself,  to  plead  for  the  church,  to 
plead  for  all  sinners,  to  plead  for  those  who  speak, 
that  boldness  may  be  given  unto  them.  Paul  had 
been  preaching  for  20  years,  and  yet  he  says  so 
earnestly.  ^'Pray  for  me."  Let  us  pray  for  the 
ministers  of  the  gospel. 


72  THE   SPIRITUAL  LIFK. 

We  cannot  do  all  this  unless  the  Holy  Spirit 
carries  us  along,  unless  our  whole  life  is  full  of  the 
Spirit.  Do  you  see,  this  glorious  life  is  a  prepared, 
a  provided  life?  Are  you  going-  to  accept  it?  Say, 
"Oh  Lord,  this  is  the  life  Thou  hast  promised;  this 
is  the  life  the  Spirit  will  give;  I  am  going  to  be 
content  with  nothing  less;  I  am  going  to  claim  it. 
Beloved  Saviour,  Thou  hast  purchased  me  with  Thy 
blood,  Thou  hast  promised  me  the  Spirit  from  the 
Father,  I  claim  it." 

Let  us  bow  in  prayer. 


BE   FII,I<ED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  73 


»e  fillet)  Mitb  tbe  Spirit. 


You  will  find  the  words  of  my  text  in  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles,  second  chapter,  fourth  verse:  "And 
they  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost."  Along- 
with  that  look  at  Eph.  5:18:  "Be  filled  with  the 
Spirit."  The  first  of  these  words  is  history;  the  120 
disciples  were  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  The 
second  is  a  command — "Be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit." 

There  are  often  very  difficult  questions  sug-gested 
in  connection  with  the  question,  "How  can  we  be 
filled  with  the  Spirit?"  I  do  not  think  there  is  any 
better  way  to  answer  these  than  by  looking  at  the 
disciples  and  seeing"  how  they  were  prepared  for 
receiving"  the  Spirit  and  being"  filled  with  Him;  and 
I  know  of  nothing  more  instructive.  Christ  does 
not  give  the  Spirit  to  an  unprepared  soul.  He 
could  not,  and  therefore  it  is  of  extreme  consequence 
to  ask  the  question,  "What  is  needed  if  I  am  to  be 
filled  with  the  Spirit?"     I  tried  to   point   out   from 


74  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

God's  word  this  morning,  as  we  studied  the  Epistle 
to  the  Ephesians  in  its  teaching  on  the  Spirit,  that 
to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit  is  what  every  Christian 
needs,  and  needs  for  his  every-day  life;  and  I  re- 
peated what  I  had  said  before,  that  it  is  not  enough 
to  look  for  the  Spirit  as  a  Spirit  of  power  for  work, 
but  we  ought  to  long  above  everything  that  our 
inner  life  be  filled  with  the  Spirit,  the  power  for 
work  will  come  out  of  this.  If  I  want  an  apple  tree 
to  bear  apples,  I  take  care  that  that  apple  tree  has 
as  good  and  as  strong  and  as  healthy  a  growth  as 
can  be  given;  the  apples  come  spontaneously.  If  I 
have  the  Holy  Spirit  strengthening  and  filling  my 
inner  life,  the  fruit  of  power  will  come. 

The  disciples  were  all  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Just  look  at  the  most  important  points  in  connec- 
tion with  their  preparation: — Who  were  they? 
What  had  they  done?  What  had  Christ  done  for 
them? 

1.  They  were  men  who  had  forsaken  all  for 
Christ.  It  was  three  years  before  this  time  that 
Christ  had  taken  them  into  His  school  of  prepara- 
tion for  Pentecost.  John,  the  Baptist,  said,  "He 
will  baptize  you  with  the  Holy  Ghost  and  with 
fire,"  and  when  Christ  called  them  it  was  with  the 
special  thought  of  training  them  for  the  baptism  of 
the  Holy  Ghost.  Missionaries  often  take  candidates 
into  their  class  for  baptism  for  three  months  or  a 
year.  They  come  to  them  and  say  they  want  to  be 
baptized.  They  appear  earnest,  but  there  is  no  sat- 
isfactory evidence  that  they  are  regenerated.  The 
missionary  says,  "Come  to  the  class;   I   will  teach 


BE   FILLED   WITH    THE   SPIRIT,  75 

you  and  I  will  see  if  you  are  prepared  to  be  bap- 
tized." So  did  Christ  take  these  men  for  three 
years  into  His  baptism  class,  and  at  the  end  of  three 
years  He  baptized  them  with  the  Holy  Ghost. 
What  was  their  condition  on  entering-  the  baptism 
class?  They  had  given  up  all  for  Christ.  They 
had  to  give  up  their  fishing  nets;  Matthew  had  to 
leave  the  receipt  of  the  custom;  they  had  to  forsake 
all.  Christ  often  repeated  the  truth,  "Except  a 
man  hate  father  and  mother,  except  a  man  forsake 
houses  and  lands,  he  is  not  worthy  of  Me."  On  one 
occasion  Peter  said,  "Lord,  we  have  forsaken  all 
and  followed  Thee."  My  dear  friends,  it  was  this 
that  was  the  first  step  in  their  preparation  for  the 
Baptism  of  the  Spirit  at  Pentecost.  Christ  could 
not  impart  His  own  heavenly  life  and  Spirit  except 
to  men  who  gave  up  all  to  receive  Him.  He  took 
these  men  to  prepare  them  and  teach  them  to  give 
up  everything  for  God;  so  they  could  be  His  dis- 
ciples. 

Jesus  Christ  comes  to  us  with  the  same  demand — 
"Except  a  man  forsake  all  he  cannot  be  My  dis- 
ciple." There  are  many  who  try  to  be  filled  with 
the  Spirit — and  it  is  better  to  try  than  not  to  try — 
still  many  try,  who  yet  have  no  conception  of  what 
it  is  that  has  to  be  given  up.  I  must  let  go  the 
world;  I  must  let  go  family  and  friends  so  far  as  the 
supreme  place  in  my  heart  is  concerned;  I  must  be 
prepared  to  let  go  possessions,  honor  of  men  and 
opinions  of  men;  I  must  be  prepared  to  let  go  every- 
thing I  have;  I  must  be  prepared  to  let  go  self,  my 
intellect,  my  heart's  affections,  everything  must  be 


76  fH^  SPIRITUAI,    LIF^. 

sacrificed  and  made  subordinate  to  this  wonderful 
blessing" — the  Holy  Spirit  to  come  and  dwell  in  me. 
The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  something- 1  can  merely  own 
or  have  at  my  disposal,  but  in  Him  Christ  is  a  Di- 
vine Master,  coming"  to  take  charg-e  of  me,  and  He 
wants  every  breath  of  my  life,  every  word  of  my 
tongue;  He  wants  the  whole  of  the  self  life  deposed 
to  make  room  for  His  life.  Christ  comes  and 
tells  me  that  the  most  important,  the  only  thing  on 
earth  worth  living"  for  is  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit. 
The  man  who  possesses  Him,  Christ  lives  in  him 
and  has  complete  dominion  over  him.  He  possesses 
Christ. 

Dear  friends,  there  are  many  of  you  who  have 
done  it,  who  have  forsaken  all  for  Christ.  Have 
you  not  often  attended  a  consecration  meeting-  and 
taken  your  vow  over  and  over  ag-ain,  and  sung"  the 
words: 

"Here  I  g"ive  my  all  to  Thee, 

Friends,  and  time,  and  earthly  store." 
and, 

"All  I  hare  I  leave  for  Jesus?" 

Have  you  not  sung"  this  evening",  "Anywhere, 
everywhere  with  Jesus?"  I  speak  to  you  who  are 
earnest  Christians,  have  you  not  forsaken  all;  have 
you  not  vowed  to  forsake  everything";  have  you  not 
vowed  to  forsake  every  selfish  thing",  your  own 
pleasure,  your  own  self,  profit,  and  the  world,  and 
be  wholly  for  Jesus?  I  tell  you,  you  have  taken  the 
first  step  to  be  filled  with  the  Spirit.  Trust  God, 
He  will  do  it.  If  you  have  done  it,  then  I  want  you 
to  come  under  the  solemn  conviction — I  can  be  filled 


BE   FILLED  WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  77 

with  the  Holy  Spirit,  and  I  am  going  to  take  every 
step  God  shows  me.  But  if  there  is  anything  in 
which  3'our  heart  condemns  you,  beware!  If  your 
secret  conviction  is,  I  have  not  forsaken  all,  there 
are  little  sins  I  have  never  given  up,  there  is  my 
temper,  my  own  will,  which  I  dare  not  forsake, 
then,  I  ask  you,  how  can  you  expect  to  be  filled  with 
the  Spirit?  It  cannot  be.  Oh,  brother,  come  to- 
night! do  not  hesitate  any  longer!  There  is  the 
Everlasting  God  in  heaven  waiting  to  fill  you  with 
His  holy,  blessed,  divine  Spirit;  and  will  you,  for 
the  sake  of  something  in  the  world,  or  for  the  sake 
of  the  flesh  and  its  pleasure,  or  for  the  sake  of  your 
own  will,  hold  back  and  say,  "No,  I  cannot  be  filled 
with  the  Spirit,  I  must  give  up  too  much?"  I  wish 
I  could  plead  with  you  to  come.  Come!  For  God's 
sake  let  us  all  say  tonight,  "I  forsake  all  to  follow 
Jesus.  I  long  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Ghost;  I 
want  the  heavenly  life  to  live  in  me  fully  every  mo- 
ment. I  want  to  pray  that  I  may  have  this  'pearl 
of  great  price.' 

The  first  condition  of  receiving  the  Holy  Ghost, 
then,  was  that  these  men  had  forsaken  all. 

And  the  second  condition: — They  had  been  brought 
to  titter  self-despair.  It  was  at  the  very  beginning 
of  Christ's  teaching  that  He  taught  them  to  forsake 
their  boats  and  fishing-nets;  but  later  on  they  found 
they  had  a  very  difficult  lesson  to  learn — to  forsake 
self.  We  had  that  in  the  words  to  Peter,  last  night, 
"Let  a  man  deny  himself."  They  did  not  know 
how  terrible  the  power  of  self  within  them  was. 
They  were  never  brought  to  utter  self-despair  until 
they  came  to  the  cross  of  Jesus. 


78  THE   SPIRITUAI,   I.IFE. 

I  cannot  but  remind  you  of  the  Lord's  Supper. 
Two  thing-s  took  place.  One  was,  they  had  a  dis- 
pute among"  themselves  as  to  who  should  be  chief; 
there  was  pride.  They  were  thinking-  of  their  own 
g-lory,  and  of  the  place  they  would  have  in  the  new 
king-dom  which  was  gfoing-  to  be  set  up.  The  other 
thing-  was,  when  Christ  was  led  away  to  be  crucified 
they  all  forsook  Him  and  fled.  Every  one  had  said, 
"I  will  never  forsake  Thee,"  so  self-confident  were 
they.  Peter  had  said,  "Thoug-h  all  men  forsake 
Thee  yet  will  not  I,"  and  when  Christ  said,  "You 
will  deny  Me,"  Peter  said,  "Thoug-h  I  should  die 
with  Thee  yet  will  I  not  deny  Thee."  They  were 
filled  with  a  self-confident  spirit,  and  it  was  with 
that  spirit  that  Christ  took  them  to  Gethsemane. 
There  beg-an  the  time  of  trial;  they  all  fell  asleep. 
Even  the  three  who  were  taken  into  the  inner  g-ar- 
den  could  not  watch  with  Jesus.  What  happened 
then?  When  the  soldiers  bound  Jesus  they  all  for- 
sook Him  and  fled.  Peter  and  John,  after  a  little, 
recovered  their  courage  and  went  to  the  house  of 
the  Hig-h  Priest,  and  there  Peter  denied  his  Lord. 
And  Jesus  looked  upon  him  and  he  went  out  and 
wept  bitterly.  When  Christ  was  condemned  and 
taken  to  Calvary,  there,  a  g-reat  distance  off,  they 
stood  and  looked!  How  their  hopes  perished!  How 
they  were  brought  to  utter  self-despair!  Just 
think,  when  they  saw  their  Lord  crucified,  and  dy- 
ing, and  dead,  and  buried,  what  must  have  passed 
through  their  hearts?  They  had  hoped  for  a  king- 
dom, and  all  hope  of  the  kingdom  was  gone  forever 
in  their  eyes.     They  had  hoped  their  Lord  was  to 


BE   FILLED   WITH   THEJ  SPIRIT.  79 

reign  in  g"lory,  and  now  all  was  lost.  Their  hope 
was  gone.  Worst  of  all,  they  had  trusted  in  them- 
selves that  they  loved  Jesus  and  would  be  faithful 
unto  Him,  and  now  they  were  all  ashamed  and 
hardly  dared  to  look  at  each  other.  We  have  for- 
saken Him  and  fled!  We  never  knew  we  were  so 
wicked;  we  never  knew  our  self  was  so  strong  and 
sinful.  We  have  forsaken  our  beloved  Lord  in  His 
hour  of  agony  and  death! 

I  do  believe  that  that  Sabbath  day  of  rest  was  a 
day  of  unutterable  anguish  to  those  disciples,  like  a 
day  of  death.  Why?  In  order  that  they  might  be 
broken  down  from  all  trust  in  anything  external  and 
anything  in  themselves.  These  two  things  had  so 
broken  them  down  that  on  earth  there  was  no  help, 
no  hope  at  all;  they  were  in  utter  despair,  and  thus 
prepared  for  the  Holy  Spirit.  The  Holy  Spirit 
must  come  to  take  the  place  of  self  life;  so  consuming 
it  that  a  man  can  say,  "The  life  that  I  now  live  in  the 
flesh,  I  live  by  the  faith  of  the  Son  of  God."  It  is 
only  out  of  the  grave  of  self  that  the  Spirit  life  can 
rise.  The  Holy  Spirit  must  work  this  in  me. 
With  no  human  help,  with  the  hope  of  everything 
on  earth  broken,  empty,  hopeless,  helpless,  they 
turn  to  Christ.  Why  did  God  allow  all  this?  That 
they  might  be  empty  to  receive  the  new  life,  the 
life  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Christ  came  on  the  resur- 
rection day  to  breathe  upon  them  the  Holy  Spirit. 
They  then  began  to  see  something  of  what  was 
coming,  though  during  the  40  days  He  was  with 
them  they  did  not  quite  understand  all.  For  what 
they  did  not  understand  there   was  nothing   to  do 


80  tun  SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

but  trust.  When  He  went  back  to  heaven  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  was  poured  out  and  filled  them,  at  Pen- 
tecost, then  they  were  fully  delivered  of  all  self- 
confidence. 

I  trust  there  are  many  here  whom  God  has 
broug-ht  to  the  end  of  self.  Oh,  it  is  a  blessed 
thing!  Are  there  not  some  who  say,  "I  want  to 
find  out  whether  I  am  prepared  to  be  filled  with  the 
Holy  Spirit?"  Are  you  brought  to  utter  self-des- 
pair? Perhaps  many  of  you  have  asked  and  re- 
ceived what  you  thought  was  a  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  but  you  did  not  know  the  dangers.  You 
have  said,  "Well,  that  is  a  wonderful  thing  I  have 
got,  a  wonderful  blessing;  God  has  done  a  great 
thing  in  me;"  and  there  was  a  secret  self-satisfac- 
tion, and  a  great  want  of  humility,  and  a  great 
want  of  utter  nothingness  before  God.  Come  and 
say,  I  want  to  be  forever  done  with  self;  I  will 
deny  self;  I  have  asked  God  to  cast  it  out,  and  that 
my  heart  may  be  empty  and  broken. 

That  is  the  second  step  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit. 

Get  down,  lower  down!  Do  not  be  in  a  hurry  to 
get  up.  My  brother,  get  lower  down,  and  become 
nothing,  and  let  self  be  cast  into  the  depths.  The 
lowly,  truly  humble,  self-despairing  one  is  prepared 
for  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit. 

Are  there  some  souls  who  say,  "Self  is  still  the 
great  force  in  my  life;  self  is  ruling  me;  he  is  a  hard 
master;  self  is  working  in  me  every  day,  and  I  have 
not  been  brought  to  utter  self-despair?"  Then  I 
ask  you,  are  you  going  to  miss  the  blessing?      Are 


BE   FILLKD   WITH   THE   SPIKIT.  81 

you  who  are  in  utter  self-despair  about  getting-  the 
blessing-,  are  you  going  to  try  for  years  to  improve 
self,  to  bind  self  with  chains,  to  make  self  some- 
thing not  so  very  wicked  as  it  is?  Or  will  you  not 
say,  There  is  no  help  in  self;  I  will  trust  Christ  to 
come  in  and  take  possession?  Your  Father  longs 
to  have,  as  children,  a  church  of  believers  filled 
with  the  Holy  Ghost,  and  He  has  got  the  residue  of 
the  Spirit  in  great  abundance.  He  has  purposed  to 
give  it  to  you  as  He  gives  the  water  and  air,  freely 
and  abundantly.  The  river  of  the  water  of  life  is 
flowing  full  from  the  throne  of  God.  He  wants  you 
to  say,  1  long  to  have  my  whole  being  saturated, 
fully  dominated,  ruled,  possessed  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
of  God.  Brother,  if  you  have  despaired  of  yourself, 
thank  God  that  it  is  so!  If  you  have  not,  are  you 
willing  here  to  cast  self  at  the  feet  of  Jesus,  and  to 
fall  in  utter  helplessness  and  say,  "Lord,  I  cannot 
conquer  self;  I  have  been  fighting  but  I  have  failed; 
have  mercy  upon  me!  het  it  henceforth  be.  None 
of  self  but  all  of  Thee?"  Come  and  take  the  place 
of  the  disciples  and  you  will  be  prepared  for  the 
fullness  of  the  Spirit. 

3.  T/iey  were  men  in  whom  there  was  an  intense 
personal  attachment  to  Jesus.  You  know,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  Spirit  that  the  Father  gives,  and  He 
comes  through  the  Son,  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  the 
Spirit  of  God's  Son,  and  it  is  by  getting  united  to 
the  Son  of  God  that  I  get  the  Spirit  of  God.  Christ 
taught  His  disciples  to  cling  to  Him,  to  love  Him, 
to  delight  in  Him  and  to  lean  their  whole  weight — 
as  it  were — upon  Him.     In  living  three  years  with 


82  THE  SPIRITUAI,   I,IFE. 

them,  He  had  taug-ht  them  to  love  Him.  With  all 
their  failures,  they  did  love  Christ  truly.  There 
was  ing-ratitude  with  it;  the  failures  were  terrible, 
with  all  the  self-confidence  and  sins  of  the  flesh;  yet 
they  loved  Jesus.  But  was  that  enoug-h,  that  they 
loved  Jesus?  No,  it  was  not.  "Without  the  Spirit, 
how  continually  they  failed  to  obey  Christ!  It  was 
His  blessed  work  to  lead  them  on  to  a  better  life, 
where  they  would  have  power  to  conquer  self  and 
sin.  For  over  three  years  He  walked  with  them  as 
a  friend.  How  He  loved  them!  How  He  served 
them!  How  all  His  kindness  and  g"oodness  were  ex- 
hibited in  their  presence!  Oh,  how  He  loved  them! 
It  is  written,  ' '  Having-  loved  His  own,  He  loved 
them  unto  the  end."  And  He  had  won  their  hearts. 
They  loved  His  teaching-,  and  they  loved  Hhn  ;^.mid^ 
all  their  unfaithfulness  they  clung-  to  Him.  When 
He  died,  though  they  had  gone  and  left  Him,  and 
they  believed  Him  dead,  still  they  loved  Him,  their 
hearts  were  attached  to  Him. 

Here  is  our  third  step  in  the  preparation  for  the 
baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  It  is  when  the  heart  of 
a  believer  clings  to  Jesus  with  an  intense  and  con- 
tinual love.  There  are  some  Christians  in  whom  there 
is  very  little  personal  attachment  to  the  Lord  Jesus. 
A  man  may  preach  sermons  about  Christ,  talk  about 
Him,  work  for  Him,  and  give  liberally,  but  this  is 
not  what  I  am  speaking  about.  What  was  the 
charge  of  Christ  against  the  church  at  Ephesus? 
"Thou  hast  left  thy  first  love."  There  was  no  per- 
sonal tender  love  to  Jesus.  There  are  some  people 
who  talk  about  being  filled  with  the  Spirit,    and 


BK   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  83 

pray  for  it,  but  I  am  afraid  they  will  not  get  it. 
They  do  not  know  what  it  is  to  be  clinging-  to  Jesus 
as  a  personal  friend.  Before  the  soul  is  filled  with 
the  Spirit  there  is  a  tenderness  of  feeling,  a  pre- 
paration for  it  in  the  intensity  of  love  for  Jesus; 
there  is  a  clinging  of  the  heart  to  Himself;  the  soul 
is  longing  for  Him,  and  longing  to  love  Him  better. 
There  are  some  of  you,  I  trust,  who  can  say,  "I  do 
love  Jesus;  He  knows  how  I  delight  in  Him;  He 
knows  that  He  is  the  joy  of  my  heart,  and  tonight 
He  knows  that  I  burn  for  Him;  He  knows  I  ask. 
What  can  I  sacrifice  for  my  Lord  Jesus?  Is  there 
anything  I  can  do  for  Jesus?'  He  knows  that,  amid 
failure,  I  am  seeking  to  keep  every  commandment, 
and  my  heart's  prayer  is.  Oh,  that  I  could  see  Him 
and  know  Him  better!  Oh,  for  the  time  when  God 
has  all  my  heart;  and  nothing  there  but  Jesus,  Je- 
sus only." 

Praise  God  for  every  soul  that  is  broken,  who 
says  in  faith  towards  God,  "Lord,  Thou  knowest 
all  things,  Thou  knowest  that  I  love  Thee."  Take 
courage,  say  it  with  boldness,  as  Peter  did,  or  say 
it  sorrowing;  but  say  it.  You  are  in  the  right  path 
to  be  baptized  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Jesus  wants 
people  who  are  intensely  full  of  love  to  Him. 

We  often  hear  the  complaint,  My  religion  is  more 
in  my  head,  and  in  my  work,  than  in  intense  love  to 
Jesus.  O,  Lamb  of  God,  who  loved  us!  we  see  we 
have  been  so  busy  with  ourselves,  with  our  study, 
our  preaching,  our  visiting,  our  working  for 
Thee — so  busy  with  these  that  for  Thee,  blessed 
Lamb  of  God,  we  have  had  little  time,  so  little  time 


84  THE  SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

for  meeting"  with  Thee;  so  little  heart  and  long-ing-  for 
close  union!  Let  us  fall  down  and  make  confession, 
Lord,  Thou  canst  not  g-ive  me  the  Holy  Spirit;  I  am 
wanting-  this  mark;  I  have  so  little  love.  Oh,  tell 
me,  when  can  I  get  it?  How  long"  must  I  seek  this 
love?  You  can  get  it  to-night  if  you  see  your  sin 
and  shame,  and  confess  the  want  of  this  personal, 
clinging  love,  and  say,  Lord,  let  my  love  now  be  a 
tender,  intimate  fellowship;  I  want  my  whole  being 
to  be  filled  with  the  love  of  God.  Say  it  in  humility 
and  say  it  in  faith.  He  accepts  that,  when  the  soul 
has  pledged  itself  to  begin  loving  Him  wholly.  He 
will  accept  it,  and  will  send  down  His  Holy  Spirit 
upon  you.  Sister,  brother,  are  you  ready?  Jesus 
wants  to  fill  us  with  His  Holy  Spirit. 

4.  They  had  accepted  the  word  of  Christ  about  the 
coming  of  the  Spirit^  in  faith.  They  were  men  who 
believed.  Those  ten  days  after  Christ's  Ascension 
were  passed  in  waiting  and  prayer.  That  is  faith. 
What  did  they  believe  about  it?  Ask  them.  They 
could  not  tell  exactly.  They  had  read  in  the  Old 
Testament  of  the  Holy  Spirit  coming  down  on  pro- 
phets; but  about  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  in  the 
believer  all  day,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  bringing  the 
joy  and  presence  of  Jesus  into  their  hearts,  they  did 
not  know.  They  just  believed.  Our  master  said 
that  He  would  send  the  Holy  Spirit;  they  just  clung 
to  that  word.     He  said  it,  and  we  are  sure  of  it. 

How  foolish  to  think  of  the  Holy  Spirit  coming 
from  heaven  for  the  sake  of  people  like  youl  some- 
one might  exclaim.  Their  answer  is.  He  said  it. 
If  people  had  said,  You  fools!   you  denied  Him,  you 


Bn   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  85 

forsook  Him,  you  unworthy  creatures!  do  you  be- 
lieve jyc?^  are  going-  to  be  the  elect  men?  They 
would  answer,  He  said  it. 

Now  are  you  resting  upon  the  word  of  God?  This 
morning  we  had  the  picture  of  the  wonderful  life 
that  the  child  of  God  can  live,  all  those  twelve  as- 
pects of  the  walk  in  the  power  of  the  blessed  Spirit. 
That  is  what  the  Bible  says  can  be  my  life.  Some 
of  you  were  here  when  we  spoke  about  the  fruit  of 
the  Spirit  being  love.  Have  not  all  of  you  said,  I 
believe  that  my  life  can  be  a  life  of  love  all  the  day 
long — love  to  the  most  unlovable,  to  the  heathen, 
love  to  all  I  meet?  Have  you  said  that  in  faith? 
Have  you  said.  The  Holy  Spirit  can  be  in  my  soul; 
I  can  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit?  Can  you  say, 
I  can  have  the  filling  every  morning  and  night? 
Oh,  take  care!  don't  let  unbelief  tell  you  that  this  is 
too  high  for  a  man  on  earth,  that  a  man  in  the  flesh 
cannot  live  filled  with  the  Spirit.  That  is  unbe- 
lief. 

Another  says,  "My  temperament!  There  are  peo- 
ple who  have  a  kind  temperament;  but,  you  know,  I 
have  such  a  temperament,  I  could  never  have  this 
fullness."  And  so  on,  in  a  hundred  forms  there  is 
the  thought,  we  must  be  content  to  live  without 
the  Spirit.  Beloved  children  of  God,  take  care  of 
unbelief,  and  come  now  to-night  and  say,  "I  do  be- 
lieve what  Jesus  says:  that  the  Father  delights  to 
fill  a  child  of  His  with  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  do  be- 
lieve that  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  meant  to  be 
lived  by  me  every  day  in  the  week  and  every  mo- 
ment of  my  life.     I  do  believe  what  the  Scriptures 


86  THK   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

say,  that  'the  Holy  Spirit  is  able  to  fill  me  with 
God's  love,  so  that  my  life  shall  be  one  of  humility 
and  tenderness,  giving-  g-lory  to  God  and  the  Lord 
Jesus.'"  If  you  will  believe  what  God  has  said,  and 
what  God  is  willing-  and  waiting-  to  do  by  the  power 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  thoug-h  you  don't  feel  it  yet, 
say  that  you  believe  it.  If  you  believe  there  is  a 
God  in  heaven,  and  there  is  a  blessing-  waiting,  and 
God  is  willing  to  give  it,  will  you  say  that?  It  is 
an  unutterably  solemn  thing  to  come  into  contact 
with  God.  A  man  must  stand  and  give  an  answer 
to  God.  Many  turn  round  to  think  about  it,  and 
will  not  give  an  answer  to  God.  Oh,  come  and  do 
something.  Set  your  heart  upon  it  and  say,  I  will 
have  it. 

Some  are  thinking  of  their  business  and  how  it 
would  look  for  them  to  go  down  tomorrow  morning 
if  they  were  overflowing  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Just  imagine  it.  They  think:  I  cannot  do  it;  I 
could  not  manage  it!  Ton  have  not  to  manage  the 
Holy  Spirit;  He  will  manage  you.  He  will  teach 
you  how  to  live  when  you  are  full  of  Him. 

5.  They  not  only  believed,  but  they  longed  and 
thirsted  for  it.  I  believe  that,  with  the  shock  of 
that  earthquake  that  came  to  them  when  Jesus  was 
crucified,  in  their  utter  despair  of  themselves  and 
with  inexpressible  shame  and  disgrace  for  having 
treated  Jesus  as  they  did,  they  learned  to  long  for 
something  better.  And  the  Son  of  God,  in  the  40 
days  He  was  upon  the  earth,  worked  in  their  hearts 
an  expectation  that  filled  them  with  assurance  dur- 
ing the  10  days  in  which  they  waited.      These  120 


BE   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  87 

men  and  women  appeared  contemptible  in  the  eyes 
of  the  world,  but  they  waited  for  the  promise  of 
their  Lord.  They  were  assured  of  this  above  every- 
thing. 

Are  you  willing-  to  do  this?  May  God  bring-  us  to 
it!  It  struck  me  as  a  solemn  thing-.  This  is  the 
last  evening-  service  this  week,  and  how  far  have  we 
g-ot?  Friend,  would  you  be  ready  to  say,  God,  fill 
me  with  the  Holy  Ghost;  I  am  ready.  Are  you 
ready  to  say  that?  Some  people  think  it  must  come 
as  a  g-reat  emotion,  stirring-  their  whole  being-.  It 
does  not  always  come  that  way.  It  may  come  as 
the  nig-ht-dew  on  the  grass,  quiet  and  g-entle.  They 
think  people  must  talk  and  shout.  No!  What  is  it? 
It  is  to  have  my  whole  being-  placed  at  His  disposal, 
and  then  in  faith  to  receive  the  g-ift  of  God,  the  Holy 
Spirit  taking-  possession  of  me.  As  an  empty  ves- 
sel to  separate  myself  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  believe  then,  the  Lord  has  g-iven  this 
life,  to  be  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit;  I  claim  it  from 
Him;  I  trust  Him  for  it. 

You  know,  a  river  can  be  filled  in  two  ways.  In 
South  Africa  we  have  terrible  valleys,  which  mig-ht 
be  called  dry  rivers,  and  then  hig-h  up  the  course  of 
the  river  there  come  immense  thunder  storms  and 
the  water  comes  pouring  down  with  such  a  rush  that 
it  causes  the  stream  in  these  lower  reaches  to  rise 
eight  or  ten  feet  high  at  once,  and  it  keeps  on  rising 
until  it  overflows  its  banks.  How  did  it  get  full? 
Suddenly,  with  violence.  But  sometimes  rivers  get 
full  in  quite  a  different  way.  There  are  great  snow 
mountains,  and  the  snow  melts  gently,  and  the  wa- 


88  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

ter  flows  and  fills  the  river.  There  is  very  little 
commotion.  The  stream  rises  slowly,  and  gradu  ally 
the  river  gets  full,  until  its  banks  overflow.  How 
different  from  the  former !  There  are  souls  in  whom 
the  filling  of  the  Holy  Ghost  comes  with  great 
emotion.  There  are  other  souls  who  come  trem- 
bling, and  full  of  fear;  they  are  prepared  and  they 
say  to  God,  "  O  God,  it  is  Thy  will  that  I  should  be 
filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit  from  morning  to  night. 
I  long  for  it.  I  believe  Thou  wilt  give  it."  They 
say  it  quietly  and  they  claim  it  in  faith.  "Lord,  I 
believe  Thou  hast  done  it." 

Oh,  my  brother,  are  you  ready  for  it  tonight? 
Remember,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  the  heritage  of  God's 
church.  It  is  not  meant  for  something  extraordi- 
nary. Each  of  us  may  say.  The  fullness  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  mine.  It  is  mine  for  my  daily  life,  to  en- 
able me  to  live  a  holy  life  every  day.  Are  you 
ready?    Shall  we  bow  before  God? 


prai^ina  in  tbc  power  ot  tbe  Ibol^  ©boat. 


I  want  to  speak  to  you  this  morning-  on  prayer. 
Those  of  you  who  are  students  preparing-  for  the 
work  of  making-  known  the  gospel  of  Christ  can 
hardly  realize  the  part  prayer  ought  to  play  in  your 
studies.  People  think  a  great  deal  of  study.  They 
study  Latin,  Greek,  logic  and  science  of  all  sorts. 
They  will  study  music  and  theology  and  anything 
that  will  help  them  in  the  work  of  the  ministry  or 
in  service  of  the  gospel  and  yet  very  often  forget 
what  is  the — it  is  a  solemn  thing  to  say — what  is 
the  most  important  part  of  the  preparation  for  the 
work  of  serving  God.  That  is  fray  er!  And  prayer 
is  an  art,  a  spiritual  art  that  has  to  be  studied  like 
anything  else.  You  know  we  don't  become  perfect 
in  anything  without  a  great  deal  of  exercise. 
When  a  person  is  learning  to  play  the  piano  he 
spends,  it  may  be,  an  hour  every  day,  sometimes 
many  hours,  all  for  the  sake  of  being  perfect  in  his 
art.     Do  not  let  us  think  we  can  learn  the  art  of 


90  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

prayer  without  a  great  deal  of  exercise.  Just  think 
what  its  importance  is  in  preaching",  in  visiting,  in 
speaking-,  in  dealing-  with  men,  when  God's  word 
tells  me  that  all  mj  dealing  is  helpless  except  God's 
power  from  heaven  works.  And  the  word  tells  me 
that  the  power  will  work  in  answer  to  the  much 
prayer  of  faith,  praying  with  importunity,  and  that 
alone.  '  'Paul  may  plant,  Apollos  water,  but  God 
giveth  the  increase."  Some  one  has  said  that  farm- 
ers are  a  people  who  ought  to  learn  to  trust  God. 
They  can  sow  their  corn  but  they  must  wait  on  God 
to  give  sunshine  or  rain  for  growth  and  increase. 
This  is  specially  true  for  people  who  are  going  to 
work  for  God.  I  may  plow,  I  may  sow,  I  may  work 
as  hard  as  man  can  work,  but  God  gives  the  in- 
crease. And  God  gives  the  increase  in  answer  to 
prayer.  And  so  for  two  reasons,  dear  students,  you 
all  ought  to  be  men  and  women  of  prayer.  One 
reason  is  for  your  own  spiritual  life.  If  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  to  live  in  your  life  it  must  come  by  prayer. 
The  other  is  for  the  sake  of  those  among  whom 
you  work.  If  the  Holy  Ghost  is  to  work  in  them 
through  the  word  it  must  come  by  prayer.  And 
do  not  think  after  I  become  a  minister,  missionary, 
or  teacher,  then  I  will  begin  to  pray,  then  I  will 
learn  to  pray  because  I  shall  then  feel  the  need. 
You  say  I  cannot  find  time  to  pray  now.  I  have  so 
many  lessons  to  prepare  I  need  every  moment  for 
study,  I  cannot  be  behind  in  my  class,  I  cannot  givQ 
time  to  prayer.  Oh!  beware.  Remember  the  same 
devil  that  teaches  you  this  now  will  find  you  three 
years  hence  when  your  work  is  much  heavier.     He 


PRAYER.  91 

will  tell  you  the  same;  that  you  have  so  much  to  do 
that  you  cannot  find  time  to  pray.  Remember,  the 
unconverted  man  says,  conversion  is  easy  to-mor- 
row but  hard  to-day.  Even  so  prayer  that  now  is 
difficult,  appears  easy  in  the  future.  Alas,  you  will 
find  it  in  the  future  just  as  hard  as  now.  I  pray 
that  you  students  preparing-  for  Christ's  work  ask 
God  to  teach  you  how  to  pray.  He  cannot  do  that 
unless  you  give  time  to  it.  Reading-  a  book  about 
prayer,  listening-  to  lectures  and  talking-  about  it  is 
very  g-ood,  but  it  wont  teach  you  to  pray.  You  g-et 
nothing-  without  exercise,  without  practice.  I 
might  listen  to  a  professor  of  music  for  a  year  play- 
ing the  most  beautiful  music,  but  that  won't  teach 
me  to  play.  So  take  care  that  you  don't  get  beau- 
tiful thoughts  about  prayer;  take  care  that  you 
don't  get  beautiful  Scripture  truths  about  prayer 
and  yet  don't  put  them  into  practice  by  actually 
praying.  The  words  that  I  want  to  speak  on  will  put 
prayer  before  us  in  a  wonderful  way.  It  stands 
connected  with  the  work  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  They 
are  found  in  the  8th  chapter  of  Romans,  23rd  verse. 
Let  us  read  from  the  22nd  verse.  '  'For  we  know 
that  the  whole  creation  groaneth  and  travaileth  in 
pain  together  until  now."  Paul  says  throughout 
creation  there  is  a  groan  of  suffering  and  crying  for 
deliverance  to  God  and  not  only  this  creation  is 
groaning  but  "we  ourselves  which  have  the  first 
fruits  of  the  Spirit, groan  within  ourselves  waiting 
for  the  adoption,  to  wit:  theredemptionof  the  body." 
And  also  verses  26  and  27.  Now  in  these  two  last 
verses  I  have  read  I  think  you  will  find  four 
precious  thoughts  about  prayer. 


92  THE   SPIRITUAI.    LIFE. 

1.  We  are  ignorant  and  do  not  know  how  to 
pray. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  our  helper  in  prayer. 

3.  The  Holy  Spirit  prays  for  us  not  always  in 
words  or  thoug-hts  that  we  can  understand,  but  with 
unutterable  groanings,  longings  that  cannot  be  ex- 
pressed. 

4.  That  God  who  searches  the  heart  finds  out 
what  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  is  who  always  prays 
according  to  God's  will  and  God  gives  us  the 
answer. 

In  the  first  place  we  are  ignoront  and  know  not 
how  to  pray.  When  I  have  got  to  do  a  thing  and  I 
am  ignorant,  it  is  of  great  importance  that  I  should 
know  my  ignorance.  If  I  were  to  ask  a  teacher  of 
music  to  teach  me  to  play  on  the  piano  and  I  sat 
down  with  the  idea  that  I  could  do  it,  it  would  hin- 
der him  terribly.  But  if  I  sat  down  in  my  ignor- 
ance and  said,  please  teach  me  how,  then  I  am  in 
the  right  position  to  be  taught.  So  there  are  a 
great  many  who  have  the  idea  that  they  can  pray. 
They  say  our  mother  taught  us  to  pray,  our  minis- 
ter taught  us  to  pray.  I  know  of  many  things  I 
have  gotten  from  God.  They  think  every  one  can 
pray.  How  often  we  think  we  know  how  to  pray, 
and  go  on  for  years  with  the  idea  we  are  praying 
right.  Now,  if  you  are  ever  to  become  powerful  in 
prayer,  the  first  thing  in  prayer  must  be  that  you 
fall  down  before  God,  under  a  sense  of  your  ignor- 
ance, and  say,  I  cannot  pray  as  I  ought.  Ere  you 
begin  to  pray  just  quietly  say.  Do  I  know  what 
prayer  is?     Do  I  know  what  it  is  to  meet  the  great 


PRAYER.  93 

God?  Do  I  know  how  to  take  hold  of  God  and  hold 
Plim  fast?  Do  I  know  how  to  take  hold  of  His 
streng-th?  Do  I  know  what  the  full  fellowship  and 
communion  of  God  is?  Beg-in  to  sit  still  until  you 
realize  His  holy  presence,  and  feel  how  little  you 
are  fit  to  speak  to  Him.  Lord,  I  knov/  not  how  to 
pray.  I  may  know  manj'  thing's  to  pray  for  but  not 
what  I  need  most.  My  prayer  may  be  rig-ht — Lord 
deliver  me  from  pride  and  self-will — and  yet  I  may 
not  know  how  sadl}'  I  need  pride  to  be  removed. 
Perhaps  God  wants  me  to  be  delivered  from  pride 
and  I  pray  for  that;  and  yet  I  have  never  seen  my- 
self as  God  sees  me,  I  have  never  been  truly  convic- 
ted of  my  pride.  So  you  can  pray  for  other  thing-s 
and  never  come  to  the  real  point  of  what  you  need. 
You  need  before  everything-  in  prayer  a  deep  con- 
sciousness of  your  ignorance.  What  a  wonderful 
blessing  if  I  come  into  this  ig-norance.  The  Holy 
Spirit  will  be  my  helper  in  prayer.  This  blessed 
ignorance  is  one  of  the  most  remarkable  elements  of 
faith.  Abraham  went  out  not  knowing-  whither  he 
went.  It  was  a  beautiful  ignorance,  it  taught  him 
to  trust  God.  Look  at  the  disciples.  They  once 
came  to  ask  Jesus  to  give  them  a  place  on  the 
throne.  He  said,  "Ye  know  not  what  ye  ask."  He 
brought  them  at  once  to  the  point.  You  think  you 
are  asking  for  what  you  need.  No!  you  are  fool- 
ish. You  know  not  what  you  ask.  Very  often  we 
pray  for  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  and  we  don't 
know  what  we  are  praying  for.  It  is  of  the  utmost 
importance  that  you  know  what  you  are  praying 
for.     I  may  utter  thoughts  that  are  true  and  yet  my 


94  THE   SPIRITUAL,  I^IFE. 

heart  may  not  know  what  I  ask.  So,  from  the  very 
beginning  there  should  be  in  our  prayers  a  sense  of 
deep  ignorance.  Paul  says  no  man  knoweth  the 
things  of  God  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  None  of  you 
can  tell  what  I  am  thinking  about.  You  do  not 
know  what  is  in  my  heart.  No  one  can  tell  what 
is  in  the  mind  of  God  but  the  Spirit  of  God.  If  I 
come  and  pray  from  what  I  have  learned  out  of  a 
book  or  out  of  my  experience,  that  is  not  enough. 
I  want  to  be  taught  by  the  Spirit  of  God  to  pray  as 
I  ought,  in  unison  with  the  will  of  God.  Oh  listen, 
the  Holy  Spirit  cannot  teach  you  until  all  your  self- 
conceit  and  self-confidence  is  taken  away  and  you 
get  broken  down  into  a  nothingness  that  says.  Lord, 
I  know  nothing.  Thus  will  you  learn  to  be  quiet 
before  God,  and  in  your  ignorance  to  wait  on  God  to 
teach  you. 

2.  What  a  blessed  thought  that  the  Holy  Spirit 
is  given  to  help  our  infirmities,  and  that  He  prays 
in  us.  What  a  blessed  thought!  You  are  believers 
in  the  Holy  Trinity — Father,  Son  and  Holy  Ghost. 
The  Father— He  sits  upon  the  throne  as  God.  The 
Son  sits  on  His  right  hand  as  Mediator  and  Inter- 
cessor— He  lives  ever  to  pray  Think  of  that.  The 
Son  in  His  glory  has  got  no  other  work  but  pray- 
ing; His  whole  being.  His  presence  before  God  as 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  is  one  unceasing  prayer, 
and  we  read  that  that  is  the  reason  He  can  save 
completely,  because  "He  ever  liveth  to  pra3\"  He  is 
the  King  in  glory,  but  His  highest  work  is  prayer, 
and  continually  there  goes  up  to  the  Father  from 
Him  a  stream  of  intercession:  Father,   bless  Thy 


PRAYER.  95 

children,  bless  My  people  on  earth.  And  unceasingly 
there  comes  from  the  Father  in  answer  a  stream  of 
blessing.  And  unceasingly  from  the  Son  there 
streams  out  the  flow  of  the  Holy  Spirit  to  bring  the 
blessing  to  us.  And  the  Spirit  is  in  the  heart  of  the 
believer  to  teach  what  this  blessing  is  that  Christ 
has  for  them;  to  teach  them  all  that  is  prepared  for 
them.  But  when  we  are  self-satisfied,  and  imagine 
that  we  know  how  to  pray,  then  we  cannot  wait 
for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  teach  us  and  we  lose  all  the 
wonderful  gifts  He  could  reveal  to  us.  Just  think 
what  it  means.  The  Father  on  the  throne  to  give; 
the  Son  at  His  right  hand  to  bless,  and  down  in 
your  heart  and  mine  the  Holy  Spirit,  the  third  Per- 
son of  the  Blessed  Trinity,  proceeding  from  the  Fa- 
ther. It  is  God  giving,  Christ  praying,  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  receiving  and  imparting;  teaching  you 
to  pray  in  perfect  harmony  with  God  and  Christ. 
Have  we  actually  believed,  I  have  the  Holy  Spirit 
to  help  my  infirmities  in  praj-er?  Alas!  No. 
"When  we  have  felt  our  ignorance,  felt  we  don't 
know  how  to  pray,  we  have  begun  mourning,  and 
have  become  discouraged,  we  have  kept  away  from 
our  closet  because  we  did  not  know  how  to  pray  as 
we  wished.  I  tell  you,  brother,  that  is  the  very  best 
time  to  go  and  pray.  When  you  pray  so  glibly  and 
easily  it  is  very  much  human  feeling  and  human 
words,  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost  is  not 
there.  When  you  feel  you  cannot  pray,  set  your- 
self before  God  and  say,  I  cannot  pray,  prayer  is  too 
high  for  me,  let  the  Holy  Spirit  help  my  infirmi- 
ties and  come  and  pray  in  me.       What  a  blessed 


96  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE;. 

truth  it  is  the  Holy  Spirit  prays  in  me  and  for  me. 
He  it  is  of  whom  we  heard  yesterday  and  the  day 
before,  that  the  Holy  Spirit  takes  charge  of  our 
whole  life  and  dwells  in  our  hearts.  If  you  will  only 
take  time  to  use  your  Heavenly  Helper,  He  will  do 
His  work  effectively.  If  I  have  a  helper  in  any 
work,  for  example,  in  leading  the  singing  this 
morning.  I  have  a  helper  in  Professor  Towner. 
What  do  I  do?  When  it  is  time  for  singing  I  give 
up  to  him  and  trust  him  for  the  music  in  the  meet- 
ing. To  this  Holy  Spirit,  if  He  is  to  be  my  helper, 
I  must  give  way,  I  must  stand  aside.  How  little  we 
have  acknowledged  that  the  Holy  Spirit  has  helped 
our  infirmities.  If  you  are  to  get  the  help  of  the 
Spirit  let  me  give  you  one  lesson,  and  let  me  urge 
this  upon  you,  when  you  are  in  your  closet  to  pray 
alone  you  should  always  take  plenty  of  silent  time 
before  your  prayers  and  in  between  your  prayers. 
It  is  a  solemn  thing  to  think  that  I  am  going  to  ex- 
ercise power  on  heaven  and  bring  down  here  heav- 
enly blessings  upon  myself  and  others,  and  I  ought 
to  be  very  quiet  before  God.  Think  of  God,  the 
Three  One  God,  as  engaged  in  your  prayer.  Let  us 
always  spend  a  few  minutes,  at  least,  in  worship, 
until  our  faith  realizes.  Here  is  the  Almighty  God, 
waiting  to  bless  me.  He  is  longing  to  fill  me  with 
His  Holy  Spirit.  This  faith  will  not  come  unless 
w°  take  time  to  think  about  it.  The  Everlasting 
God  is  waiting  to  bless  me.  Let  me  believe  God 
will  bless.  Just  be  quiet  and  sink  down  into  noth- 
ingness and  let  the  Holy  Spirit  pray  in  you.  The 
Holy  Spirit  will  do  it.       The  Father  has  given  you 


PRAYER.  97 

His  Spirit  on  purpose  to  do  it.  He  will  pray  in  you. 
Ag-ain  when  you  have  prayed,  be  quiet  a  little  and 
just  sit  still  until  your  heart  g-ets  fully  into  the  faith 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  doing-  His  work  in  you  just 
now.  He  is  g-iven  to  you  actually  and  really  to  be 
your  teacher  and  helper  in  prayer.  When  you  feel 
very  ignorant  and  helpless,  pray.  A  lady  once 
asked  a  minister  for  help.  She  had  lost  the  joy  of 
secret  prayer.  She  asked  what  she  had  to  do  to  get 
it  back.  She  had  done  her  best  in  striving-  but  had 
failed.  He  said,  "You  went  the  wrong-  way  about 
it.  When  you  were  unconverted  )^ou  tried  to 
do  everything  right  and  did  not  succeed.  How  did 
you  get  life?"'  "I  just  trusted  Jesus,"  she  said. 
"That's  what  you  have  got  to  do  again.  When  you 
have  no  inclination  to  pray,  when  your  heart  is 
very  cold,  just  go  to  Jesus  and  say,  Thou  hast  ap- 
pointed prayer  as  the  means  to  come  to  Thee,  and 
my  heart  is  cold.  Thy  heart  is  full  of  love,  here  I 
come  in  my  feebleness.  If  you  will  abide  in  His 
presence  He  will  meet  you,  and  the  Spirit  will  teach 
you  to  trust  and  to  pray.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  given 
to  help  our  infirmities." 

We  must  take  care  of  making  a  mistake.  People 
often  think  that  when  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  and 
teaches  them  to  pray  there  will  be  a  great,  burning 
rush  of  feeling  and  they  will  pray  such  beautiful 
prayers.  Feeling  may  indeed  stir  and  help  you, 
but  many  times  it  is  superficial.  Let  me  read  the 
words  of  the  text  again,  "But  the  Spirit  maketh  in- 
tercession for  us  with  groanings  that  cannot  be  ut- 
tered!"     That  is  what  the  Spirit  loves  to  do.      He 


98  THE  SPIRITUAL,  LIFE. 

loves  to  keep  us  in  our  ig-norance,  so  that  our  mind 
cannot  run  away  and  occupy  itself  with  the  beauti- 
ful thoug-hts  from  the  Holy  Spirit.  He  goes  deeper 
than  our  thoughts  and  minds  into  the  heart  and  He 
prays  there  with  groanings,  with  longings  that 
cannot  be  expressed  in  words.  He  gives  us  a  deep, 
an  inexpressible  yearning,  a  deep  thirst  for  God  and 
for  God's  glory.  Oh,  my  friends,  we  are  proud  of 
nothing  so  much  as  our  minds,  our  intellects,  and 
our  thoughts.  We  want  to  understand  everything, 
and  to  know  everything.  You  listen  to  a  sermon 
and  get  a  beautiful  thought,  you  tell  your  friends 
of  it,  you  keep  it  to  read  over  again.  You  have 
got  something  for  your  intellect  but  it  has  not  got 
into  your  heart.  A  blind  man  can  understand  talk 
about  the  sun,  and  light,  and  know  a  great  deal 
about  it;  the  most  ignorant  man  who  has  seen  the 
sun  knows  more.  A  great  many  people  know  a 
great  deal  about  prayer,  but  it  does  not  help  them 
to  pray.  We  want  our  hearts  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  He  will  bring  us  into  the  life  of  prayer. 
If  the  Holy  Spirit  alone  can  teach  us  to  pray,  have 
we  not  reason  to  confess  that  we  have  often  prayed 
in  the  flesh?  Oh,  may  the  Blessed  Teacher,  Him- 
self, live  and  breathe  in  us,  that  we  may  know  how 
to  pray.  May  the  Holy  Spirit,  about  whom  we  have 
been  speaking  and  thinking  these  last  few  days,  be 
to  us  a  Spirit  of  prayer,  as  He  is  in  us  a  Spirit  of 
holiness  and  of  power  for  work;  the  Spirit  of  love, 
and  the  Spirit  that  brings  to  us  all  that  we  had  yes- 
terday morning  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  A 
Spirit  of  fellowship,  of  access  to  God,  a  Spirit  of  in- 
tercession, who  give  us  boldness  and  power  with 
God. 


PRAYER.  99 

3.  The  Holy  Spirit  makes  intercession  in  us.  He 
prays  in  and  for  us  in  words  and  feelings  that  are 
as  unutterable  groaning-s.  After  Paul  speaks  of 
Him  as  the  Spirit  of  intercession  for  all  saints,  he 
says  He  makes  intercessionyc>r  the  saints  according- 
to  the  will  of  God.  What  that  means  we  can  under- 
stand if  we  look  at  the  23rd  verse.  "For  the  whole 
creation  g-roaneth,  "all  the  suffering-  animals  through- 
out the  world,  all  the  millions  of  little  creatures 
around  us,  these  are  all  groaning-  for  a  different 
state  of  things.  And  not  only  so,  but  we  ourselves 
g-roan  within  ourselves,  thoug-h  we  have  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Spirit  waiting-  for  the  adoption,  to  wit: 
the  redemption  of  the  body.  Paul  says,  believers 
should  look  forward  to  the  full  redemption,  when 
the  body  shall  be  redeemed  and  made  like  Christ's 
g-lorious  body,  and  all  believers  gathered  into  one. 
Creation  g-roans  for  its  universal  redemption,  the 
Spirit  groans  not  only  for  the  individual  but  the 
united  redemption  of  all  saints.  There  is  a  great 
groaning  in  creation  and  a  great  groaning  by  the 
Holy  Spirit  in  the  hearts  of  believers,  and  these  are 
things  we  cannot  pray  for  as  we  ought,  but  God 
hears  the  unutterable  groanings  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Spirit  makes  intercession  in  us  for  all  saints. 
It  is  your  highest  privilege  as  priests  of  God  to  be 
intercessors.  Oh,  the  value  of  the  intercession! 
When  I  pray  for  other  people  who  may  be  at  a  dis- 
tance, or  when  we  gather  in  a  small  prayer-meeting, 
I  sometimes  say,  what  utter  folly  this  would  be  if 
God's  word  did  not  teach  it.  Here  are  50  people 
praying  for  something  in  China,  or  Africa,  or  Eng- 


100  THK  SPIRITUAI,    I.IFE. 

land,  and  these  SO  feeble  ones  believe  that  they  can 
actually  stir  the  Almighty  Everlasting-  God  to  ac- 
tion by  their  prayers,  and  that  in  answer  to  their 
prayers  He  would  do  something*  that  He  would  not 
have  done  if  they  had  not  prayed.  This  can  only 
be  true  because  the  Holy  Spirit  dwells  in  the  be- 
liever, and  His  prayer  in  us  is  from  God  as  much  as 
the  answer.  Children  ol  God!  yield  yourselves  up 
to  the  Holy  Spirit  as  the  Spirit  of  intercession; 
study  your  work  of  intercession.  If  all  believers 
were  only  to  g-ive  an  hour  a  day  for  interceeding  for 
the  church  of  God!  Oh,  Pray  for  the  church  of  God. 
If  you  would  have  your  eyes  opened,  think  of  the 
state  of  Christendom.  Take  London  with  its  five 
million,  only  one  million  of  these  go  to  church,  four 
millions  who  practically  are  not  Christians.  '  Think 
of  Chicago  with  one  million  and  a  half  and  you  have 
only  200,000  people  going  to  church.  Just  imagine. 
Think  of  those  who  do  go  to  church.  Out  of  these 
how  many  go  through  mere  formality;  how  many 
who  are  living  in  sin;  how  many  who  are  not  con- 
verted, and  how  many  who  are  worldly.  Think 
that  this  is  not  only  true  of  London  and  Chicago, 
but  of  all  the  world.  Upon  you  and  me  God  has 
left  the  responsibility  of  praying  and  taking  hold  of 
Him.  He  has  told  us  not  to  let  Him  go  and  has 
given  us  wonderful  promises.  Take  time  to  pray. 
If  we  will  give  up  ourselves  to  intercession  God  will 
bless.  I  would  like  to  ask  everyone  here,  Do  you 
pray  for  the  church  of  Christ  in  the  United  States? 
You  talk  about  its  worldliness,  so  much  higher  crit- 
icism and  error,  you  talk  about  these,  but,   do  you 


PRAYER.  101 

g-o  to  God  and  cry,  Lord,  visit  Thy  church?  Oh, 
do  cry  to  Him,  Lord  streng-then  all  Thy  people  who 
are  trying  to  live  true  to  Thee.  It  is  one  Spirit  and 
one  body  and  if  you  will  give  way  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  He  will  teach  you  to  pray  for  the  church. 
Paul  says  to  the  Ephesians,  "Praying  always  with 
all  prayer  and  supplication  in  the  Spirit,  and  watch- 
ing thereunto  with  all  perseverance  and  supplica- 
tion for  all  saints;  and  for  me,  that  utterance  may 
be  given  unto  me."  The  Holy  Spirit  is  not  a  self- 
ish Spirit.  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love  and  it  is 
one  Spirit  and  one  body.  May  God  make  you  young 
men  and  women,  may  God  make  all  of  us,  men  and 
women  of  intercession,  filled  with  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  for  this  our  highest  and  holiest  work, 
to  interceed  for  all  saints. 

4.  Last  we  have  the  wonderful  promise  at  the 
end  of  the  verse.  "He  that  searcheth  the  hearts 
knoweth  what  is  the  mind  of  the  Spirit  because  He 
maketh  intercession  for  the  saints  according  to  the 
will  of  God."  Just  think  of  that.  God  is  to  come 
and  search  out  our  hearts.  But  have  we  not  said  in 
words  what  we  want.  Yes,  but  God  is  not  deceived 
with  words.  God  knows  that  the  earnest  Christian 
often  prays  in  earnest  words,  and  his  heart  does  not 
truly  and  fully  will  what  he  has  said,  or,  at  the  bot- 
tom of  his  heart,  there  may  be  needs  he  has  not  ex- 
pressed. God  goes  deep  into  the  heart  and  finds 
out  what  the  Holy  Spirit  says.  The  mind  of  the 
Spirit  prays  according  to  the  will  of  God.  My  be- 
loved friends,  it  is  a  solemn  thing  to  pray.  I  do  be- 
seech you  take  time  to  practice  prayer  and  in  your 


102  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

prayer  every  time  learn  more  and  more  to  yield  your- 
self up  to  the  Holy  Spirit  and  say  to  Him  that  you 
set  the  very  depths  of  your  heart  open  to  Him.  If 
your  inmost  being-  is  humbly  and  patiently  made 
subject  to  Him,  He  can  take  and  make  you,  not  a 
prayer  machine,  but  a  vessel  in  which  He  lives  and 
in  which  He  works  His  prayers  down  into  your  de- 
sires and  will,  so  that  you  pray  in  the  Spirit  and  the 
Spirit  prays  in  you.  May  all  of  us  learn  the  blessed 
privilege  of  intercession  in  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost.  May  all  of  us  know  the  joy  of  having  God 
search  our  hearts  and  answering-  us  abundantly  ac- 
cording to  what  He  finds  there  of  the  need  of  the 
Spirit.  May  all  of  us  know  what  it  is  to  cry  to  God 
with  unutterable  and  unceasing  longings  "for  all 
saints, "  that  He  might  indeed  visit  and  revive  His 
people. 


THE    HOLY    SPIKIT   IN    GALATIANS.  103 


Ube  fjols  Spirit  in  Galatians, 


I  want  to  take  another  Bible  reading-  in  reg-ard  to 
the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  We  have  now  looked 
at  it  from  various  sides.  Yesterday  morning-  we 
had  the  thoug-hts  of  God's  work  in  the  Epistle  to 
the  Ephesians.  This  morning- 1  want  you  to  take 
the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  and  see  what  is  taug-ht 
there  about  the  work  of  the  Spirit.  We  are  g"oing- 
to  study  that  Epistle,  not  with  a  view  to  g-et  doc- 
trine or  theology,  as  it  is  sometimes  called,  but  we 
want  to  g-et  teaching  in  regard  to  the  Spiritual  life 
and  our  daily  walk.  You  know  that  the  Galatians 
had  been  converted  under  the  preaching  of  Paul. 
There  had  been  very  blessed  times  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  had  been  among  them  in  great  power,  and 
yet,  strange  to  say,  they  had  very  shortly  after- 
wards gone  back.  They  had  been  led  away  by  Jew- 
ish teachers  and  had  fallen  away  from  the  simple 
life  of  faith.  Paul  writes  the  Epistle  to  reprove 
and  instruct  them.     From  what  I  have  said  you  will 


104  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFK- 

see  the  state  of  the  church  was  very  low.  The 
works  of  the  flesh  were  very  manifest.  There  was 
a  great  deal  of  bitterness,  jealousy  and  clamor,  con- 
sequently the  teaching-  of  the  Epistle  is  one  of  warn- 
ing-. I  wish  to  point  out  specially,  how,  in  connec- 
tion with  the  mention  of  the  Holy  Spirit  there  are 
certain  dang-ers  against  which  we  need  to  be  warned. 
There  are  many  people  who  think  that  when  a  man 
is  filled  with  the  Spirit,  he  is  in  a  state  of  perfec- 
tion. They  will  very  soon  find  out  that  they  are 
wrong-.  I  want  to  impress  this  very  much  upon  you, 
that  when  a  man  g-ets  the  fullness  of  the  Spirit,  the 
life  of  the  Spirit,  it  is  a  thing-  that  makes  him  very 
g-entle,  very  humble,  very  much  afraid  of  sinning- 
ag-ainst  God  and  very  tender  lest  he  should  be  led 
to  walk  astray.  He  has  a  spirit  of  deep,  deep  hu- 
mility and  fear  of  pride. 

Let  us  find  out  what  God's  word  tells  us  and 
warns  us  to  beware  of. 

1.  The  first  mention  of  the  Spirit  is  Gal.  3:2. 
"This  only  would  I  learn  of  you,  received  ye  the 
Spirit  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the  hearing-  of 
faith?"  There  we  see  plainly  that  there  are  two 
ways  in  which  men  often  think  they  can  get  the 
Holy  Spirit.  One  is  by  the  work  of  the  law.  That 
is  the  religion  of  human  nature.  We  think  we 
must  work.  We  have  been  doing  wrong,  of  course 
we  must  do  right;  we  have  been  sinning,  of  course 
we  must  give  up  sin,  and  the  more  we  give  up  sin 
and  obey  God  the  more  we  get  of  the  Holy  Spirit. 
The  Epistle  teaches  us  that  this  is  wrong.  "Was 
it  by  the  works  of  the  law,  or  by  the  hearing  of 


THE   HOI,Y  SPIRIT  IN   GALATIANS.  105 

faith?"  Did  you  find  yourselves  getting  so  good,  so 
righteous,  that  you  could  say,  Now,  Lord  give  us 
the  Holy  Spirit?  Did  the  Holy  Spirit  come  upon 
you,  in  response  to  such  a  life,  under  the  law?  Or, 
when  3'ou  were  under  the  law,  did  it  not  show  you 
that  you  were  sinners  and  did  you  not  come  in  faith, 
by  the  obedience  of  faith,  first  accepting  Jesus 
Christ,  and  then  giving  yourself  up  to  obey  Him 
fully?  "B}^  the  hearing  of  faith"  you  got  the  Holy 
Spirit.  Take  care,  those  of  you  who  are  seeking 
for  the  Holy  Ghost,  that  you  don't  seek  by  the 
works  of  the  law  instead  of  the  hearing  of  faith.  It 
is  a  free  gift  of  the  everlasting  God.  It  is  not  what 
you  do  or  what  you  are  that  will  get  the  Holy  Spirit. 
As  a  condition,  you  have  to  confess  sin,  and  to  give 
up  sin;  but  the  more  earnest  and  intense  your  de- 
sire the  more  you  fail,  until  you  see  that  you  cannot 
conquer  sin  yourself.  It  is  as  you  come  to  Jesus 
and  confess  you  are  not  strong  enough  to  cast  out 
sin,  and  say,  "Lord,  in  Thy  power  I  will  live  a  holy 
life,"  that  you  will  obtain  the  Holy  Spirit — you  re- 
ceive the  Spirit  by  faith. 

As  we  read  in  the  14th  verse  of  the  same  chapter, 
"That  we  might  receive  the  promise  of  the  Spirit, 
through  faith. "  Now  remember,  everyone  who  is 
beginning  to  long  for  the  filling  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
that  here  is  the  great  truth  you  need,  j^ou  must  get 
it  by  faith.  Faith  always  means  this:  there  is 
something  I  cannot  do  myself,  I  trust  another  to 
do  it  for  me.  Faith  is  always  a  confession  of  help- 
lessness. Faith,  if  it  means  anything,  means  this: 
Lord,  I  cannot  make  myself   worthy,    but    I    can 


106  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

trust  in  Thy  love.  Thou  canst  and  will  g-ive  me 
the  Holy  Spirit.  I  want  you  to  say  that  without 
any  doubt.  And  it  is  not  only  by  faith  once  for  all, 
but  it  is  by  faith  every  morning-,  that  the  action  of 
the  Holy  Spirit  may  be  received  fresh  from  heaven. 
Many  people  have  a  precious  experience  and  live  on 
that  for  forty  years.  We  need  the  Holy  Spirit  fresh 
from  heaven  every  day.  I  don't  know  of  a  more 
solemn  lesson  than  that  of  the  manna  that  came 
from  heaven.  It  became  corrupt  twenty-four  hours 
after  it  fell.  Water  you  want  ever  day  fresh  from 
the  spring;  stagfnant  water  corrupts.  If  you  want 
to  live  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit  it  must  be  a  life 
continually  renewed  from  heaven.  I  must  come 
every  day  to  be  filled  fresh  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
This  must  be  the  holy  habit  of  my  life.  As  you  be- 
g-an  so  continue,  by  faith.  You  must  learn  to  g"et 
hold  of  God's  promises,  to  believe  in  the  divine,  God- 
g"iven  power  working*  in  you  and  then  your  walk 
will  be  a  humble  one,  from  hour  to  hour.  Just  as  a 
father  gives  bread  every  day  to  his  child,  so  my 
Father  gives  me  the  blessed  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  fresh  every  day.  The  great  mark  of  a  man 
who  lives  in  the  Spirit  is  deep,  true,  entire,  unbroken 
dependence  upon  God.  As  I  need  the  sunshine 
every  minute  of  the  day,  the  sunshine  of  five  min- 
utes ago  does  not  help  me  now.  Every  minute  the 
sun  must  shine  on  me  from  above;  so  every  moment 
the  Holy  Spirit  must  come  to  my  heart  fresh  from 
God.  And  thus  you  receive,  not  by  the  works  of 
the  law  but  by  the  hearing  of  faith. 

2nd.     Warning  in  the  fourth  verse.     "Are  ye  so 


THK  HOLY   SriKIT   IX    GALATIAXS.  107 

foolish,  having  beg-un  in  the  Spirit  are  ye  now  made 
perfect  in  the  flesh?"  This  is  a  most  important 
and  instructive  lesson,  conveying-  the  solemn  warn- 
ing", that  a  man  can  beg-in  in  the  Spirit  and  then 
g-et  off  the  line  and  g-o  on  to  perfect  in  thefleshwhat 
was  begun  in  the  Spirit.  You  know  what  shunt- 
ing is.  On  a  dark  night  a  train  may  be  switched 
over  to  another  track,  and  go  off  in  a  wrong  direc- 
tion. A  man  may  receive  the  Holy  Spirit  and  get 
shunted  off  the  track  just  by  one  thing,  the  flesh. 
In  Romans,  eighth  chapter,  we  saw  the  great  con- 
trast between  the  Spirit  and  the  flesh.  "Not  in  the 
flesh  but  in  the  Spirit,"  "Not  after  the  flesh  but 
after  the  Spirit."  So,  too,  in  Galatians  the  contrast 
is  pressed.  A  man  can  begin  with  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  unconsciously  be  led  to  perfect,  to  seek  his  re- 
ligious progress,  in  the  flesh.  Thousands  have 
done  it.  A  man  has,  for  a  time,  been  under  the 
power  of  the  Spirit,  and  yet  been  led  to  seek  the 
maintenance  of  his  life  and  work  in  what  is  human 
and  carnal.  You  may  have  the  Holy  Spirit  in  you 
and  yet  you  have  the  flesh  in  you  too,  and  the  flesh 
is  always  active  and  ready  to  live  the  religious  life. 
I  have  seen  men  in  whom  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Ghost  is  manifest,  and  yet  there  is  just  a  little  of 
self.  God  uses  such  a  man,  and  yet  self-confidence 
may  corrupt  all.  The  man  perfects  in  the  flesh 
what  was  begun  in  the  Spirit.  This  is  a  danger  to 
which  you  and  I  are  exposed  and  therefore  we  must 
take  the  warning.  How  can  we  provide  against  it? 
You  cannot  provide  against  it.  Nothing  on  earth 
can  bring  us  relief.     Oh,  that  we  might  have  a  real 


108  THS  SPIRITUAL    LIFE 

sense  of  our  danger,  a  sense  of  our  utter  inability  to 
keep  away  the  secret,  insidious  power  of  the  flesh. 
You  need  to  pour  impotence  in  the  very  depths  of 
your  being-,  so  that  you,  through  God,  praise  God 
that  your  heart  is  full  of  the  joy  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
You  still  are  conscious  that  all  the  time  you  are  in 
the  enemies'  territory,  and  may  be  led  to  allow  the 
flesh  to  assert  itself  in  your  religion.  You  want  to 
be  brought  to  such  a  sense  of  your  helplessness  and 
dependence  upon  God  as  shall  lead  you  really  to 
yield  yourself  to  the  Holy  Spirit  alone.  Dear 
Christians,  you  have  a  great  many  enemies,  but 
watch  specially  against  one.  That  one,  how  hard 
to  be  overthrown.  It  is  self.  Self  is  the  flesh  and 
the  flesh  is  self.  This  is  the  one  enemy  you  are  in 
danger  of  allowing  to  come  in  between  you  and  the 
Holy  Spirit  and  leading  you  ofi",  shunting  you  off  on 
the  wrong  track.  Beware!  To  those  who  are 
seeking  earnestly  to  live  lives  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit,  let  me  say,  take  up  a  position  of  deep  fear 
and  dependence.  God's  word  says  "Fear  not." 
Look  to  God,  be  not  afraid.  But  on  the  other  hand 
it  says,  "Blessed  is  the  man  who  feareth."  The 
man  who  fears  lest  he  should  sin  against  God  and 
give  way  to  the  flesh  is  the  man  who  gets  to  fear 
nothing  because  God  is  his  strength.  Having  be- 
gun in  the  Spirit  take  care  lest  you  perfect  in  the 
flesh. 

3.  In  the  fourth  chapter,  sixth  and  seventh 
verses.  "And  because  ye  are  sons  God  hath  sent 
forth  the  Spirit  of  His  Son  into  your  hearts,  crying, 
Abba,  Father.      Wherefore  thou  art  no  more  a  ser- 


THE   HOLY  SPIRIT   IN   GALATIANS.  109 

vant,  but  a  son;  and  if  a  son,  then  an  heir  of  God 
through  Christ."  In  the  previous  verse  there  w^as 
a  warning-  against  the  spirit  of  bondage,  here  we 
are  taught  that  the  Spirit  that  comes  in  us  is  the 
Spirit  of  adoption;  we  are  the  heirs  of  God  in  His 
Son.  The  whole  teaching  of  the  epistle  is  this,  not 
to  go  to  God  as  servants  but  as  sons.  You  have  the 
Spirit  of  sonship.  You  all  know  the  parable  of  the 
prodigal  son  and  the  elder  son.  How  the  elder  son 
said  to  the  father,  '*I  have  served  thee  these  many 
years,  yet  thou  never  gavest  me  a  kid."  The  father 
replied,  "Son,  thou  art  ever  with  me  and  all  I  have 
is  thine."  Thou  hast  free  access  to  my  presence  and 
all  my  possessions.  What  was  wrong  with  that 
young  man?  He  had  the  spirit  of  a  servant  and 
not  of  a  son.  Instead  of  trusting  his  father  he  was 
living  the  life  of  a  slave.  The  spirit  of  bondage  is 
so  natural  to  us.  Therefore  God's  word  says,  do  re- 
member you  are  sons.  Let  us  show  it  in  our  whole 
lives,  in  our  intercourse  with  God  and  our  walk  be- 
fore men,  that  the  spirit  of  a  son  is  in  us,  the  Spirit 
of  God's  own  Son.  God  holds  back  no  good  thing 
from  His  sons.  Our  whole  life  ought  to  be  in  the 
faith,  I  am  always  a  son  of  God.  I  have  always 
everything  I  need.  Most  Christians  do  not  enjoy 
that  because  they  do  not  live  in  the  spirit  of  son- 
ship.  The  object  of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  give  5'ou 
a  full  child-like  heart  toward  God.  Here  in  Gala- 
tians  we  are  warned  to  take  care  that  we  don't  live 
before  God  as  servants  in  the  spirit  of  bondage. 
God  gave  the  Spirit  of  His  Son;  He  sent  Him  forth 
into  our  hearts.     Oh   that  we  might  realize  the 


110  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

simplicity  of  being-  a  child  of  God  all  the  day  long. 
My  father  loves  me  so.  See  the  little  child's  actions 
toward  his  father.  He  loves  him  and  jumps  on  his 
knee  and  says,  Won't  you  give  me  this?  The  heart 
of  the  child  is  full  oi  confidence  in  the  father.  How 
blessed  if  we  allowed  this  Spirit  of  sonship  to  pos- 
sess us.  Some  people  ask  for  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
have  somewhat  of  His  power  but  their  work  is  a 
burden.  Allow  the  Spirit  of  God's  Son,  who  dwells 
in  your  heart  from  day  to  day,  to  deliver  you  from 
the  spirit  of  bondage  and  fear — that  wrong  fear  of 
a  slave  toward  God — and  give  you  a  spirit  of  child- 
like access  and  openness  and  confidence  and  love. 
God  has  sent  forth  the  Spirit  of  His  son  into  your 
hearts.     Do  not  live  like  servants,  but  like  sons. 

4.  Chapter  5:1-5.  You  see  here  that  there  were 
many  of  the  Galatians,  who  had  been  justified  by 
faith  in  Christ,  who  had  taken  to  works  again. 
They  were  seeking  for  obedience  in  an  external  re- 
ligion, a  religion  of  works.  Beware  of  that.  A 
true  believer  waits  through  the  Spirit  for  the  hope 
of  righteousness  through  faith.  Everything  that 
is  promised  to  the  righteous  I  am  to  hope  for.  Ev- 
erything I  hope  for  the  Holy  Spirit  teaches  me  to 
expect  by  faith.  Do  you  not  see  our  whole  life  is  to 
be  believing?  Some  people  ask,  have  you  not  told 
us  to  work  very  hard?  Yes,but  it  is  a  very  different 
tiling  to  work  under  the  law  and  to  work  by  grace. 
There  is  a  law  that  you  may  not  steal.  How  many 
thousands  cannot  keep  from  stealing.  The  law 
cannot  put  into  their  hearts  that  which  shall  pre- 
vent them  from  stealing.     The  law  is  helpless.      It 


i 


THK   HOLY  SPIRIT  IN   GALATIANS.  Ill 

can  punish  but  it  cannot  affect  a  man's  heart.  But 
faith  can.  There  is  no  power  in  the  world  like 
faith.  Thousands  have  been  attracted  to  South 
Africa  b}^  the  faith  of  what  they  heard  about  gold 
to  be  found  there.  Faith  is  the  one  power  that 
made  them  leave  home.  Faith  is  the  one  power  of 
the  Christian  life.  We  are  always  in  danger  ot 
seeking  something  by  the  works  of  the  law.  We 
are  always  in  danger  of  thinking  we  ought  to  be  do- 
ing something,  instead  of  going  to  Christ,  in  faith, 
and  saying,  I  can  do  nothing,  work  Thou  in  me. 
That  is  what  Paul  says,  "I  am  nothing  behind  the 
chief  est  of  the  apostles,  though  I  am  nothing." 
We,  through  the  Spirit,  wait  for  the  hope  of  right- 
eousness, for  all  the  thousands  of  blessings  that  are 
to  come  to  us  every  day  of  our  lives.  Paul  teaches 
it  in  every  possible  way,  that  we  must  live  and  work 
in  the  Spirit  coming  from  God  and  filling  our  life. 
Let  there,  every  day  of  your  lives,  every  morning, 
especially,  be  a  time  set  apart  for  acting  faith,  for 
exercising  yourself  in  believing,  before  you  pra}'. 
There  are  Christians  who  study  their  Bibles  so 
earnestly  for  half  an  hour,  they  have  read  and 
thought  on  God's  word,  have  prayed  and  told  God 
what  they  want,  but  they  have  done  no  believing. 
They  have  never  asked,  do  I  know,  certainly,  that 
God  is  blessing;  do  I  believe,  for  certain,  that  God 
is  going  to  keep  me?  Am  I  perfectly  sure  God  is 
going  to  guide  me?  If  you  asked  them  if  they  be- 
lieved that,  they  would  hesitate  to  answer.  Take 
warning,  and  learn  to  say,  every  time  you  go  to 
pray,  I  am  not  going  to  pray  unless  I  believe  God  is 


112  THE  SPIRITUAL    LIFK. 

listening.  Am  I  sure  that  God  hears  me  and  can  I 
trust  Him  fully  that  He  is  going  to  bless  me.  Hold 
still  a  little  and  say,  Oh  God,  Thou  wilt  bless  Thy 
child.  If  you  do  not  feel  that  you  can  say  that,  all 
the  more  reason  you  should  say,  what  is  wrong? 
Let  your  heart  go  up  in  confession  and  tell  God  you 
are  willing  to  give  up  everything;  you  will  learn  to 
see  the  teaching  about  the  Holy  Spirit  and  to  be- 
lieve in  the  reality  of  the  work  in  you.  The  Holy 
Spirit  is  not  merely  for  speaking  or  preaching,  but 
for  every  hour  of  the  day.  Whether  I  eat  or  drink 
I  need  to  have  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  need  to  have  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  rule  my  disposition  and  keep  me  gen- 
tle, heavenly,  Christ-like,  devoted  to  God.  You  can 
never  influence  the  church  of  Christ  with  your 
prayer  unless  the  Holy  Spirit  is  leading  you.  You 
cannot  be  living  a  holy  life  and  a  blessed  life  except 
in  the  full  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  What  did 
God  give  the  Holy  Spirit  for?  That  we  might  live 
like  Jesus.  That  our  life,  like  His,  might  be  the 
exhibition  of  what  the  power  of  God's  Spirit  can 
work.  If  we  would  but  live  the  life  of  faith  how 
wonderfully  God  would  meet  and  bless  us. 

5.  Our  next  warning  is  found  in  the  25th  verse 
of  the  5th  chapter.  "If  we  live  in  the  Spirit,  let  us 
walk  in  the  Spirit."'  Let  me  press  upon  j-ou  the 
great  difference  between  the  two  things.  Paul 
says  you  may  have  received  the  Holy  Spirit  when 
you  believed,  but  that  is  not  enough.  You  must 
also  walk  in  the  Spirit.  It  is  possible  for  a  man  to 
separate  the  two  things,  one  from  the  other.  Men 
may  be  very  anxious  to  get  pardoned  and  become 


THE   HOI.Y   SPIRIT   IN   GALATIANS.  113 

God's  children,  and  yet  think  that  after  that  they 
must  be  content  to  walk  in  the  flesh.  Look  at 
pride,  temper,  worldliness,  jealousy,  coldness 
toward  Christ,  so  little  personal  love.  These  are 
all  the  works  of  the  flesh,  and  may  be  found  in  a  man 
living  in  the  Spirit  and  yet  not  walking-  in  the 
Spirit.  Now  Paul  comes  to  us  and  says  that  if  we 
live  in  the  Spirit  we  must  also  walk  in  the 
Spirit.  What  does  that  mean?  Walk  includes 
all  our  intercourse  in  daily  life,  our  contact 
with  people,  our  conversation  with  the  world.  All 
this  must  be  in  fellowship  with  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Paul  meant  this  Spirit  to  be  in  my  home  life,  my 
church  life,  money  making,  money  giving,  money 
spending,  every  part  of  my  life.  Paul  says  that  if 
)'ou  live  in  the  Spirit,  you  should  walk  in  the 
Spirit.  Every  step  must  be  in  the  Spirit.  Am  I 
preaching  an  impossible  thing?  Verily  no.  The 
message  is  the  very  mind  of  God  and  God's  word. 
What  did  He  send  the  Holy  Spirit  for,  if  it  was  not 
to  enable  His  children  to  live  a  holy  and  a  heavenly 
life?  It  was  to  sanctify  us,  to  bring  Christ  into  our 
lives  and  to  make  us  one  with  Christ.  In  this 
chapter  it  is  stated  the  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love, 
joy,  peace,  long-suffering,  gentleness,  goodness, 
faith,  meekness,  temperance.  How  am  I  to  live 
that?  Paul  did  not  mean  that  for  people  who  are 
better  than  we  are.  No,  it  is  for  each  of  us.  And 
how  can  I  live  thus?  By  being  twice  as  gentle  or 
loving  as  I  am?  No!  The  fruit  of  the  Spirit  is  love 
and  gentleness  ever}'  moment  of  the  day.  But  how 
am  I  to  be  kept  every  hour  of  the  day  and  walk  thus 


114  THE  SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

in  love?  By  having-  the  filling  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 
Are  you  going  to  take  in  this  truth?  I  cannot  live 
an  hour  of  the  day  rightly  except  as  I  am  filled  with 
the  Spirit  of  God.  Let  us  just  give  up  ourselves  to 
walk  in  the  Spirit  and  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost 
will  become  stronger  and  we  will  find  there  is  grace 
to  enable  a  man  to  live  and  walk  in  the  Spirit. 
This  is  a  question  of  the  deepest  importance. 
"Walk  in  the  Spirit  and  ye  shall  not  fulfill  the  lusts 
of  the  flesh."  There  is  the  answer  to  the  question, 
how  can  I  conquer  all  these  temptations  of  the 
flesh?  Walk  in  the  Spirit.  Give  up  to  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  rule  your  life,  and  you  will  not  fulfill  the 
lusts  of  the  flesh.  You  will  not  get  out  of  the 
flesh,  but  you  will  have  power  to  conquer  the  flesh. 
The  Holy  Spirit  will  be  the  energizing  and  domin- 
ating power  in  your  life.  That  can  be,  because 
God  has  promised  it.  If  we  yield  our  lives  entirely 
with  child-like  faith,  God  will  lead  us  into  that 
life. 

6.  Last  chapter,  "Be  not  deceived,  God  is  not 
mocked,  for  whatsoever  a  man  soweth  that  shall  he 
also  reap.  For  he  that  soweth  to  his  flesh  shall  of 
the  flesh  reap  corruption;  but  he  that  soweth  to  the 
Spirit  shall  of  the  Spirit  reap  life  everlasting." 
The  Galatians  had  gone  back  to  the  life  of  the  flesh. 
They  worshipped  God  very  earnestly  but  they  were 
self-righteous.  They  thought  to  do  a  great  deal  to 
please  God  but  all  sorts  of  bitter  jealousies  and  en- 
vyings  broke  out  among  them.  Paul  said  they  were 
in  danger  of  devouring  one  another.  When  I  do 
not  wait  for  the  Spirit  of  God  to  teach  me  and  work 


/ 


THE   HOI<Y   SPIRIT   IN   GAL,ATIANS.  115 

in  me  then  I  cannot  work  in  any  other  power  than 
that  of  the  flesh,  and  it  bring-s  me  no  real  peace  and 
happiness.  Relig-ious  flesh,  with  its  self-effort,  is 
still  sinful  flesh.  The  man  who  is  trying-  to  con- 
quer sin  and  serve  God,  without  the  filling-  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  finds  sin  stronger  in  Him  every  day, 
because  he  is  trjdng  to  serve  God  in  the  power  of 
the  flesh.  It  is  self,  self-effort  and  self-confidence, 
and  always  breaks  out  into  sin.  There  is  no  g-etting- 
over  this,  we  must  not  sow  in  the  flesh,  we  must 
sow  in  the  Spirit  if  we  would  reap  the  fruit  of  the 
Spirit.  Our  whole  life  is  sowing-.  Every  word  we 
speak  is  sowing-.  Every  action  is  a  seed.  Every 
sentiment  and  disposition  is  a  seed.  Let  us  sow  in 
the  Spirit.  Let  our  whole  life  be  a  yielding-  to  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  perfect  His  life.  We  shall  reap  in 
the  Spirit  a  g-reat  harvest  of  peace  and  power,  of  joy 
and  blessing-. 

Now,  dear  friends,  there  you  have  the  warning-s 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Galatians  in  regard  to  the  holy 
life.  I  close  by  laying  upon  you  the  necessity  of 
taking  this  truth  to  God  in  prayer,  alone.  My 
brother,  the  Father  in  heaven  is  waiting.  As  He 
looked  upon  the  elder  son  He  looks  upon  us  and 
says,  "Thou  art  ever  with  Me  and  all  I  have  is 
thine."  Why  not  come  and  claim  what  is  ours? 
Let  us  go  to  the  Father  and  implore  Him  to  teach 
us  the  right  life,  the  life  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  Let 
us  learn  the  lesson  day  by  day,  to  be  still  and  to 
yield  ourselves  to  pray  in  the  Spirit;  to  walk  and 
work  in  the  Spirit.  Let  us  yield  ourselves  in  faith 
to  God,  the  Holy  Trinity;  the  Father,  through  the 
Son  gives  the  Holy  Spirit  to  be  the  life  of  our  soul. 
God  make  it  3^our  and  my  blessed  experience  every 
day.     Amen. 


116  THE  SPIRITUAL,  UFE. 


'*J5e  filled  limitb  tbe  Spirit" 


I  want  to  conclude  these  addresses  on  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  His  work  in  us,  by  a  short  summary  of 
what  that  work  is,  showing-  the  g"reat  and  wonderful 
blessedness  that  the  Holy  Spirit  brings  to  them  that 
yield  to  Him.  As  my  text  I  mean  to  take  again  the 
words  that  we  have  had  before,  Eph.  5:18.  "Be 
filled  with  the  Spirit."  I  think  we  have  said  that 
we  are  in  very  great  danger  when  we  read  that  text, 
of  thinking  of  the  Holy  Spirit  coming  in  great  power, 
under  a  conscious  sense  of  His  presence,  with  a 
great  stir  of  the  emotions,  with  a  great  revelation 
of  the  glory  of  God,  with  a  great  quickening  of  our 
power  for  work,  and  yet  very  often  this  is  not  the 
case.  I  used  the  illustration  of  a  river  being  filled 
up  at  once  by  heavy  storms  of  rain,  or  a  river  being 
filled  very  gradually.  I  might  speak  again,  of  that 
same  river.  Sometimes  it  is  filled  by  the  rain  com- 
ing down  in  torrents,  causing  great  noise  and  tur- 
moil, and  that  same  river  might  be  filled  with  the 


BB   FILLED   WITH  THB  SPIRIT.  117 

water  running*  down  from  the  melted  snow  on  the 
mountains,  so  that  there  will  be  a  calm-like,  steady 
rising-,  silently,  without  any  noise  or  disturbance, 
and  so  the  Holy  Spirit  may  come  with  noise  as  of  the 
sound  of  a  rushing-  wind  and  with  a  wonderful 
thrilling-  throughout  the  whole  being-,  yet,  many 
times,  He  may  come  on  the  ordinary  level  of  the 
daily  life  and  a  man  can  live  filled  with  the  Holy 
Spirit  just  while  he  is  walking-  along-  quietly  in  his 
daily  duties.  Then  the  great  thing-  to  know  and 
understand  is,  what  is  it  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will 
work  in  such  a  man?  I  want  to  give  you  three  very 
simple  answers.  The  Holy  Spirit  bring-s  the  pres- 
ence of  Christ;  He  g-ives  the  likeness  of  Christ,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  works  the  power  of  Christ. 

1.  The  Holy  Spirit  is  meant  to  g-ive  the  presence 
of  Christ.  You  know,  dear  friends,  that  during  the 
three  years  of  Christ's  work  on  earth,  to  the  dis- 
ciples, His  presence  was  everything-.  Christ's  pres- 
ence met  every  trouble  and  supplied  every  need. 
When  there  were  people  around  them  the  disciples 
knew  that  they  had  only  to  say  to  Christ,  "Do  help 
that  woman,"  and  it  was  done.  There  had  been 
thousands  around  them  without  bread  and  they 
wanted  to  send  them  away,  but  Christ  had  only  to 
tell  them  to  bring-  five  loaves  and  two  fishes  and  the 
five  thousand  were  fed.  The  presence  of  Jesus  was 
the  supply  of  every  need.  They  were  in  the  storm 
and  they  cried,  "Master,  we  perish."  The  presence 
of  Jesus  in  the  ship  was  all  that  was  needed.  He 
said,  "Peace,  be  still,"  and  there  was  a  great  calm. 
When  He  appeared  walking  on  the  sea  they  were 


118  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

terrified,  because  they  thought  He  was  a  spirit.  It 
was  only  necessary  for  Him  to  say,  "Be  not  afraid," 
and  their  hearts  were  set  at  rest.  When  they  wanted 
instruction,  g-uidance  or  reproof,  Christ's  presence 
was  their  help.  Everything-  depended  upon  having- 
Christ  with  them.  And  now,  in  my  life  and  yours, 
everything  depends  upon  having  Christ's  presence 
with  us.  Christ's  presence  is  very  near  and  very 
clear  and  if  I  can  get  up  in  the  morning,  and  if  I  can 
go  through  the  day,  and  if  I  can  meet  every  difficulty 
with  the  secret  consciousness  that  the  Lord  Jesus, 
the  Almighty  One,  is  with  me,  then  I  am  prepared 
for  anything  and  my  heart  is  kept  in  perfect  rest 
and  in  great  joy.  But  now,  Christ  was  to  go  away 
to  heaven  and  the  hearts  of  the  disciples  were  very 
sad,  but  listen,  before  He  went  away  He  said,  "I  am 
coming  again. "  '  'I  will  not  leave  you  comfortless. " 
He  told  them  that  it  was  by  the  Holy  Spirit  He  was 
coming  to  them.  He  promised  them  that  He  would 
pray  the  Father  and  that  He  would  send  the  Com- 
forter, He  told  them  that  if  they  loved  Him  they 
would  keep  His  commandments  and  then  He  pro- 
mised to  come  and  manifest  Himself  unto  them,  and 
that  both  He  and  the  Father  would  come  and  take 
up  their  abode  with  them.  Do  you  see  that  the 
Lord  Jesus  promised  the  Holy  Spirit?  He  promised 
in  the  first  place,  above  everything  else,  this — His 
abiding  presence — and  this  is  what  the  believer 
wants,  and,  dear  friends,  that  is  what  (??^r lives  want. 
We  don't  know  what  it  is  to  walk  with  Jesus  as  a 
little  child  walks  with  his  father,  and  I  want  to 
press  this  upon  you,  the  Lord  Jesus  is  longing  and 


BE   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  119 

willmg-  to  come  so  close  to  us  and  to  stay  so  near  to 
us  that  we  can  have  His  presence  always.  This  is 
not  impossible,  don't  think  it.  Jesus  is  able  to  give 
us  the  consciousness  of  His  abiding-  presence,  and 
how  does  He  do  it?  He  does  it  b}^  filling-  us  with 
the  Holy  Spirit.  This  is  the  g-reat  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  to  glorify  Christ.  Remember  the  words 
John  wrote  when  Christ  said,  "He  thatbelievethon 
Me  as  the  Scripture  hath  said,  out  of  his  belly  shall 
flow  rivers  of  living  water.  But  this  spake  He  of 
the  Spirit  which  they  that  believe  on  Him  should 
receive;  for  the  Holy  Ghost  was  not  yet  given;  be- 
cause that  Christ  was  not  yet  glorified."  When 
Christ  was  glorified,  when  He  had  died  and  glorified 
the  Father,  and  the  Father  had  glorified  Him  in 
heaven,  then  the  Holy  Spirit  came  as  the  Spirit  of 
Christ  to  show  us  Christ's  heavenly  glory,  and  that 
is  why  Christ  says,  "He  shall  glorify  Me;  He  shall 
receive  of  mine,  and  shall  shew  it  unto  you."  The 
Holy  Spirit  is  able  to  fill  me  with  a  real  deep  sense 
of  the  presence  of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  His  glory. 
This  is  one  of  the  essential  roots  of  the  Christian 
life,  the  presence  of  Jesus. 

You  have  heard  of  what  is  called,  in  England,  the 
Keswick  Movement.  Keswick  is  in  the  north  of 
England.  The  friends  who  are  at  the  head  of  this 
movement  stand  for  what  they  call  the  beginning  of 
the  spi7'itual  life.  Their  great  object  is  to  show 
Christians  how  wrong  and  feeble  their  life  is,  some- 
times light  and  sometimes  dark,  sometimes  strong 
and  sometimes  weak,  and  to  point  out  a  better  way. 
Many  admit  that  the}'  ought  to  live  a  different  life. 


120  THE   SPIRITUAL    I^IFE. 

They  are  broug-ht  to  the  acknowledgment  of  what 
is  wrong-,  to  earnest  self-searching,  to  g-ive  them- 
selves up  to  God  to  be  searched,  and  when  the  con- 
sciousness becomes  strong-  and  deep  of  what  is 
wrong,  then  there  is  pointed  out  to  them  from  God's 
word  what  the  true  life  is.  The}-  don't  talk  so  much 
about  the  baptism  of  the  Holy  Spirit  at  those  con- 
ventions, but  the  most  prominent  thought  is,  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  Saviour  from  sin  and  He  is  able  to  keep 
you  alway.  They  bring,  by  God's  help,  many  to 
see  that  Jesus  requires  one  step.  This  step  only 
takes  a  moment.  You  don't  have  to  wrestle,  but 
just  throw  yourself  in  the  arms  of  Christ  and  let 
that  living  Christ  take  hold  of  you,  never  letting 
Him  go  but  having  Him  with  you  all  the  day. 

Out  at  the  Cape  I  met  a  young  missionary,  just 
returned  from  Keswick,  where  he  had  been  greatly 
blessed.  I  asked  him  what  was  the  difference  be- 
tween his  former  life  and  now.  He  said  it  was  just 
the  personal  friendship  of  Jesus.  This  is  it:  you 
know  the  Lord  Jesus  is  such  a  dear  friend.  He  is 
such  a  heavenly  friend,  and  such  a  fountain  of  love, 
that  is,  if  you  get  into  the  right  relationship.  Oh, 
then  you  must  do  it.  The  presence  of  Jesus  must 
be  like  the  sunlight,  for  the  presence  of  Jesus  makes 
everything  bright.  How  can  I  get  this,  so  that  I 
have  the  Lord  Jesus  always  with  me,  and  I  always 
know  it,  and  I  never  get  out  of  the  realization  of  it 
for  a  minute?  That  is  what  Christ  longs  for. 
Don't  think  He  is  content  with  the  way  most  Chris- 
tians live.  He  is  such  a  lover.  He  longs  to  be  very 
near  to  us  and  have  us  wholly  for  Himself.     Listen 


BE    FILLED    WITH    THE    SPIRIT.  121 

ifriends,  the  way  by  which  a  man  can  alwa)'s  have 
the  presence  of  Christ,  is  by  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  what  is  that  way?  Why,  very  simple. 
A  man  must  confess,  "I  have  not  been  living-  as  I 
should,  in  close  fellowship  with  Jesus.  Sometimes 
I  have  met  Him,  but  just  as  often  I  have  forg-otten 
and  forsaken  Him,  living*  after  my  own  heart,  and 
although  I  have  been  kept  from  open  sin,  there  has 
not  been  that  holy  warmth  of  a  man  whose  walk  is 
with  his  Lord.  The  Lord  wants  to  have  me  always 
with  Him,  and  the  power  of  my  Lord  is  to  keep  me 
always  with  Him,  and  the  presence  of  my  Lord  is 
the  only  secret  of  a  spiritual  life."  Believe  this,  say 
it,  accept  Him  thus,  in  the  fulness  of  His  presence. 
Let  me  say  that  it  is  the  wonderful  purpose  of  God 
to  make  Jesus  present  with  me  every  day  and  hour. 
Dear  friends,  if  your  hearts  long-  to  know  Jesus  fully 
as  the  Deliverer  from  sin,  as  the  comfort  of  your 
soul,  are  you  willing-  to  confess  all  of  the  sin  of  the 
past,  bow  down  in  shame,  and  be  willing  to  be 
cleansed  in  the  precious  blood?  Are  you  willing-  to 
g-ive  up  yourself  to  a  life  of  unbroken  communion 
with  Jesus?  Oh,  that  God  might  work  a  deep  de- 
sire in  our  hearts  and  make  us  all  ready  to  say,  I 
want  a  life  of  unbroken  communion  with  Jesus.  I 
want  Jesus  to  do  the  utmost  He  can  for  me.  I  want 
His  love  to  rule  and  work  through  me  all  day.  Is 
it  possible?  The  answer  comes.  Have  I  not  given 
the  Holy  Spirit,  have  I  not  sent  the  Holy  Spirit  into 
your  heart  for  this  one  purpose,  that  He  should  al- 
ways g-lorify  Jesus  in  3"0U?  Oh  come,  believers, 
you  have  the  Holy  Spirit  within  you  now,  come  and 


122  THE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

bow  with  shame  and  say,  "Oh  God,  how  little  have 
I  let  the  Hol}^  Spirit  manifest  the  presence  of  Jesus. 
Forg-ive  me.  Father,  my  heart  responds  and  I  want 
to  open  my  whole  being  to  Him;  I  want  to  yield  en- 
tirely to  Him;  I  want  to  be  filled  completely  with  the 
Holy  Spirit  that  my  whole  being  may  be  under  His 
control,  so  that  He  may  have  power  to  reveal  Christ 
always  within  me."  If  you  will  ask  that,  believe 
God's  promises,  claim  its  fulfillment,  and  say  in  deep 
humility  and  faith,  "God  is  true,  the  Holy  Spirit  is 
here,  the  Holy  Spirit  can  and  will  fill  my  heart,  I 
am  going  to  expect  this,  the  presense  of  Jesus,  kept 
in  me,  wrought  in  me,  manifested  in  me  by  the  Holy 
Ghost."  God  help  us.  Dear  friends,  the  first  work 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  reveal  the  presence  of 
Jesus. 

2.  The  Holy  Spirit  not  only  reveals  the  presence 
of  Jesus  but  He  gives  the  likeness  of  Jesus.  This 
is  something  additional.  When  a  young  Christian 
comes  to  understand  what  the  presence  of  Jesus  is, 
he  finds  how  much  there  is  of  sin  and  flesh,  self  and 
failure,  and  shortcoming  and  even  though  he  has 
said  he  consecrated  himself  very  humbly,  and  undi- 
videdly,  he  is  very  conscious  of  how  much  there  still 
is  that  has  not  been  consecrated  and  sacrificed,  and 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  lead  him  on.  The  disciples 
hsidthe  p7'esence  of  Jesus  though  they  didnothaveHis 
likeness.  He  was  humble,  they  were  proud.  He  was 
unselfish,  they  were  selfish.  Many  want  to  have 
the  presence  of  Jesus  to  keep  them  up,  but  they  do 
not  want  to  be  entirely  like  Him.  You  cannot 
have  that.     They  will  say,   "I  cannot  expect  to  be 


BE   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  123 

too  holy.  I  want  the  presence  of  Jesus  very  near  o{ 
course,  but  I  don't  expect  to  be  very  much  like 
Jesus. "  The  Holy  Spirit  comes  to  reveal  the  presence 
of  Jesus  in  you,  not  as  a  separate  person,  but  as 
dwelling-  in  your  life  and  heart  and  disposition  and 
character.  The  Holy  Spirit  wants  to  reveal  the 
very  likeness  of  Christ  in  you.  The  characteristics 
and  disposition  of  Christ  should  all  come  to  you. 
What  are  these  characteristics,  and  what  was  His 
disposition?  I  cannot  mention  all,  but  it  is  a  great 
thing,  when  looking-  on  Christ's  character,  to  find 
out  what  is  His  chief  virtue?  What  is  His  chief 
characteristic?  The  answer  is  very  simple,  Immility. 
Did  He  not  say;  "Take  my  yoke  upon  you  and  learn 
of  Me,  for  I  am  meek  and  lowly  in  heart,  and  ye  shall 
find  rest  to  your  souls."  Did  He  not  continually 
speak  about  the  Father,  saying-,  "The  Father  hath 
sent  Me."  He  wanted  people  to  know  that  He  was 
a  servant.  He  said,  in  substance,  "I  am  not  my  own 
master,  the  words  I  speak  are  not  mine,  I  don't 
speak  of  myself,  I  dare  not  speak  one  word  of  my- 
self, but  what  I  hear  I  speak.  The  works  that  I  do 
I  do  not  of  myself,  but  the  Father  hath  shown  Me 
the  works.  I  can  do  nothing  of  myself."  Christ's 
life  was  a  life  of  absolute  dependence  upon  the  Fa- 
ther, to  do  nothing  of  Himself,  but  just  to  let  the 
Father  teach  Him,  and  let  the  Father  work  in  Him, 
and  let  the  Father  carry  out  His  will.  "I  seek  not 
mine  own  honor,  but  the  honor  of  Him  that  sent  Me. 
There  is  another  who  honors  my  honor,  I  don't  take 
care  of  that.  I  only  take  care  of  the  honoi  of  the 
Father.      I  came  not  to  do  mine  own  will,  I  have  a 


124  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

will,  but  I  g-ave  it  up,  I  came  to  do  the  will  of  the 
Father."  There  was  with  Him  a  certain  self-abne- 
g-ation.  He  wanted  to  be  nothing-  and  God  to  be  all. 
His  chief  virtue  was  humility.  He  g-ave  God  His 
place  and  g-lory;  and  what  is  the  place  and  g-lory  of 
God?  That  God  should  be  all,  and  in  all.  Christ 
came  to  man  to  take  a  humble  place — to  live  as 
nothing-.  God  told  Him  what  to  do.  He  tells  the 
Father  just  to  work  in  Him  and  show  Him  what  to  do. 
I  am  only  to  let  God  work  out  His  purpose  in  me. 
That  is  the  humility  of  Jesus.  That  is  the  Lamb 
of  God.  Some  of  you  never  thought  of  that.  You 
have  thought  of  His  sacrifice  for  sin,  and  especially 
His  blood,  but  you  have  never  thought  of  His  hu- 
mility. Men  must  humble  themselves  and  become 
nothing  before  God  if  they  wish  to  return  to  Him. 
The  Lord  Jesus  came  from  heaven  and  took  that 
name — the  Lamb  of  God — that  He  might  prove  to 
man  He  was  the  Lamb  of  God  in  littleness,  meek- 
ness, gentleness  and  humility,  and  this  is  why  Paul 
said,  "He  humbled  Himself,  and  became  obedient 
unto  death,  even  the  death  of  the  cross."  He  vir- 
tually said,  "Let  it  cost  me  what  it  will,  I  will  do  any- 
thing, I  will  die  that  God's  will  may  be  done." 
Deep  humility  was  the  Spirit  of  Christ,  and  now 
when  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  to  us  does  He  come  to 
bring  us  a  very  different  disposition?  You  know 
the  answer.  The  Holy  Spirit  wants  to  bring  the 
likeness  of  Jesus  in  us — deep  dependence  upon  God. 
This  is  what  is  wanted  in  the  church  of  Christ. 
There  is  so  much  pride,  selfishness,  unloving  and 
self-seeking.     May  God  help  us  to  see  the  beauty  of 


BE   FILLED   WITH   THE   SPIRIT.  125 

Christ,  just  to  be  in  love  with  His  humility  and  to 
believe  that  the  Holy  Spirit  will  breathe  the  hu- 
mility of  Christ  into  us.  Let  me  say  something-  to 
you  who  are  in  earnest  in  seeking"  the  filling  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  I  have  spoken  to  more  than  one. 
Take  a  very  earnest  young  man.  He  hears  about 
this  higher  life.  He  says,  "I  want  to  g"et  it;"  he 
struggles,  feels,  and  wills  and  cannot  get  it.  Why? 
Because  there  is  a  great  deal  of  self-will  and  self 
trust  in  all  that  fighting.  That  is  not  the  way  to 
get  it.  How  did  Christ  g"et  the  throne  of  glory? 
By  going"  down  into  the  grave,  and  God  lifted  Him 
up  to  the  throne  There  is  the  place  to  get  glory. 
You  must  sink  down  into  death.  It  looks  so  difficult 
for  you  to  understand  what  we  mean.  We  tell  you 
to  be  in  earnest,  we  tell  you  to  wrestle  and  make 
every  sacrifice,  we  tell  you  to  rest  not  till  you  get  it 
then  fall  down  and  become  nothing,  and  yet  both  are 
true.  A  man  must  set  his  whole  soul  upon  the 
price,  and  when  he  has  struggled  he  must  begin  to 
feel,  all  my  struggling  cannot  help  me,  and  when 
that  intense  desire  has  been  aroused  he  must  fall 
down  with  helplessness  and  say,  "Lord,  here  I  am. 
I  can  do  nothing,  I  lie  down,  I  die  to  self,  I  am  in 
despair. "  When  in  utter  despair  the  blessing-  comes. 
Dear  friends,  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  to  work  out  the 
likeness  of  Jesus  in  your  hearts.  Remember,  as  of- 
ten as  you  read,  "The  likeness  of  Jesus,"  this  is 
what  the  Holy  Spirit  is  going  to  put  into  my  heart, 
whether  it  be  self-sacrifice  or  whether  it  be  humility, 
gentleness,  or  poverty  before  God.  Oh,  do  believe 
that  the  Holy  Spirit  is  come  to  bring  the  likeness  of 


126  THE   SPIKITUAL   LIFE. 

Christ  in  you.  When  a  soul  has  learned  to  look  for 
this  work  with  its  blessing's,  say,  "Lord,  I  want 
Thy  presence;  Lord,  I  want  Thy  likeness;  Lord,  I 
want  Thy  divine  life;  God  help  me  to  have  my  whole 
life  filled  with  the  Holy  Spirit."  God's  answer: 
"Be  filled  with  the  Spirit." 

3.  The  Holy  Spirit  brings  us,  not  only  the  pres- 
ence of  Jesus  and  the  likeness  of  Jesus,  but  third, 
the  power  of  Jesus.  We  all  speak  about  power  for 
work  and  complain  we  have  so  little  of  it.  Many 
of  us  are  very  earnest  in  prayer  for  the  baptism  of 
power;  many  of  us  cry  for  more  power.  All  very 
g-ood,  but  remember,  "power  belongeth  unto  God," 
and  to  Him  alone.  God  has  given  the  power  to 
Christ,  and  Christ  has  said,  "All  power  is  given 
unto  Me,  in  heaven  and  in  earth,"  and  there  is  not  a 
shade  V  of  spiritual  power  except  in  Christ,  and 
Christ  cannot  give  me  power,  as  a  thing  to  have  in 
myself.  You  all  have  been  in  some  great  manufac- 
turing place  or  factory  and  seen  the  mighty  engine 
which  was  the  great  fountain  of  power  for  moving 
all  the  machinery;  not  a  spindle  or  wheel  has  any 
power  of  its  own;  it  can  only  get  power  as  it  is  in 
connection  with  the  engine.  Just  so  this  Christ  is 
a  great  fountain  of  power.  He  cannot  communicate 
power  to  me  if  I  have  any  secret  power  of  my  own, 
carrying  about.  If  I  want  to  be  filled  with  the 
power  of  Jesus,  as  the  machine  must  be  in  moment- 
ary connection  with  the  steam-engine,  so  my  soul 
must  be  in  momentary  connection  with  Jesus;  the 
power  is  in  Him,  and  He,  the  living  Christ,  wants  to 
work  through  me.     He  said,  "The  Father  worketh 


BK  FILLED  WITH  THE  SPIRIT.  127 

in  me."  Paul  says,  Col.  1:29,  "Striving  according" 
to  His  working-,  which  worketh  in  me,  mightily. "  I 
strive  because  God  is  working  in  me.  Dear  friends, 
the  church  of  Christ  has  a  great  work  to  do  in  the 
world.  We  have  hardly  touched  the  world.  What 
machinery  and  what  little  result.  We  are  ac- 
customed to  thinking  of  the  work  we  have  to  do. 
Think  of  800  millions  of  heathen  who  have  never 
heard  of  Christ,  and  of  the  millions  of  nominal 
Christians  who  have  nothing  but  the  form  of  re- 
ligion, without  the  power,  and  the  tens  of  millions 
who  are  in  the  church,  who  may  be  God's  own  peo- 
ple, yet  how  worldly,  how  full  of  sin,  and  none  can 
do  this  work  but  the  living  Christ.  He  can  do  it, 
and  will  do  it,  but  how?  If  the  Holy  Spirit  reveals 
Christ  within  7ne,  my  heart  will  be  strengthened 
and  I  will  learn  to  love  souls  more  and  care  for  them, 
and  speak  to  them  in  the  power  of  Christ.  Do  not 
think  that  is  impossible.  When  a  man  speaks  in 
the  power  of  Christ  there  will  be  fruit.  How  can  I 
have  this  power  of  Christ  working  in  me?  How 
can  I  preach  a  sermon  to-morrow,  visit  some  uncon- 
verted man?  Or,  how  can  I  always  allow  the  power 
of  Christ  to  work  through  me?  Listen.  I  must  be 
filled  with  the  Spirit  of  God,  then  Christ  can  work 
with  me.  You  long  for  power  for  service.  Jesus 
Christ  is  the  wisdom  and  the  power  of  God.  Get 
linked  to  Him  by  faith  that  sees  and  knows,  from 
moment  to  moment.  His  pov/er  v/ill  work  in  you. 
As  the  leather  band  brings  power  from  the  great 
steam  engine,  from  moment  to  moment,  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  keep  your  heart  waiting  and  trusting  in 


128  THK   SPIKITUAL   LIFE- 

the  presence  and  power  of  Christ,  which  will  be  re- 
vealed and  it  will  not  be  you  that  works  but  Christ 
working-  in  you.      "Be  filled  with  the  Spirit." 

As  I  said  some  days  ag"o,  we  take  up,  next  week, 
studies  on  "The  person  of  Jesus  Christ,"  and  this  is 
our  concluding  address  in  regard  to  the  work  of  the 
Holy  Spirit.  Shall  we  gather  up,  in  one  or  two 
thoughts,  all?  Dear  friends,  let  us  bow  very  low 
and  very  humbly  in  the  thought,  that  the  Great 
Spirit  of  God  is  waiting  to  get  complete  possession. 
Oh,  the  mystery;  oh,  the  blessing!  The  Great 
Spirit  of  God  is  waiting  to  get  full  possession  and  I 
cannot  force  Him,  I  cannot  grasp  Him,  but  I  can  lie 
down  at  the  foot  of  my  God  and  say,  "Father,  fill 
me  with  Thy  Spirit."  Oh,  give  up  yourself  in 
emptiness,  in  surrender,  as  Jesus  gave  Himself  unto 
death  and  the  grave,  and  remember  that  God  raised 
Him  to  the  throne  of  glory  and  gave  Him  the  Holy 
Spirit  to  give  to  us.  Sink  down  into  your  nothing- 
ness and  helplessness  in  the  grave  of  Jesus  and  God 
will  lift  you  up  and  fill  you  with  the  Holy  Spirit. 
Often  He  has  done  it.  Let  us  then  cultivate  an  in- 
tense longing  after  righteousness.  Let  us  fall  down 
very  low  and  humble  ourselves  before  God.  Never 
mind  if  there  are  difficult  questions,  there  is  God's 
promise,  God's  gift  and  God's  power.  Wait  upon 
God  and  He  will  give  you  the  filling  of  the  Holy 
Ghost. 

Lastly,  believe!  believe!  believe!  with  a  desperate 
faith.  I  am  convinced  God  means  me  to  be  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit.  Say  it;  trust  God  for  it. 
Trust  God  for  it.  Sink  low  down,  first,  with  your 
whole  heart,  and  look  to  God  and  He  will  fill  you. 
May  it  be  the  blessed  experience  of  every  one.  Let 
us  bow  in  prayer. 


CHRIST   BRINGING   US   TO   GOD.  12*> 


Cbcfst  JBrinalna  Tils  to  Oo^» 


The  words  I  wish  to  speak  on  you  find  in  I  Pet.  3: 
18,  "Christ,  also,  hath  sujEfered  for  sins,  the  just  for 
the  unjust,  that  He  mig-ht  bring-  us  to  God."  They 
went  into  the  g-reat  object  of  Christ's  work.  What 
was  it  for  that  He  came?  "That  He  mig-ht  bring 
us  to  Gody  You  know  there  is  a  great  difference 
in  a  way  to  a  house  and  the  house  itself.  I  may  be 
traveling  through  the  most  beautiful  scenery,  on  a 
lovely,  pleasant  day,  with  delig-htful  company,  and 
enjoying  every  step  of  the  way,  and  yet,  I  am  not 
content  to  stay  there  always.  I  have  gone  into  that 
way  to  bring  me  to  the  end,  the  object  of  my  jour- 
ney. Christ  is  the  way;  what  is  the  end  of  the  way? 
The  end  is  God.  Christ  wants  to  bring  us  to  God. 
You  often  find  Christians  so  occupied  with  Christ 
that  they  never  get  time  for  God.  You  ask  me,  is 
there  any  difference  between  going  to  Christ  and 
going  to  God?  A  very  great  difference.  In  Christ 
I  have  the  gracious  and  merciful  side  of  God's  char- 


130  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

acter.  But  that  is  not  the  only  side  of  the  divine 
character  I  need  to  know.  In  Christ  I  have  the 
condescension  of  God  coming*  near  to  me,  but  the 
object  of  that  condescension  is  to  bring-  me  back  to 
righteousness  and  holiness.  You  can  never  have 
true  streng-th  and  an  all-round  Christian  experience 
unless  you  learn  the  lesson  that  Christ  is  g"oing-  to 
win  your  heart  that  He  may  bring-  you  back  to  God. 
Just  think,  Christ  was  not,  in  Himself,  self-sufl&cient 
when  He  was  on  earth.  He  lived  every  day  with 
the  thoug-ht  within  Him:  There  is  one  g-reater  than 
I,  and  my  blessedness  is  to  live  in  dependence  upon 
Him,  with  a  will  g-iven  up  to  His  will  and  in  a  trust 
that  counts  upon  His  working-.  And  if  I  am  to  be 
in  Christ  and  Christ  in  me,  what  was  His  life  must 
become  my  life;  fellowship  with  God  and  dependence 
upon  God.  There  are  aspects  of  the  divine  charac- 
ter that  are  more  fully  revealed  in  God  the  Father 
than  in  God  the  Son.  Take,  for  instance,  the  fear 
of  God.  I  never,  in  the  New  Testament,  read  of 
the  fear  of  Christ.  He  came  to  reveal  the  other 
side,  the  love  and  the  attractiveness  and  the  trust- 
worthiness of  God.  The  element  of  fear  and  holy 
reverence  was  an  element  in  Christ's  own  character. 
Do  not  I  read  in  Hebrews,  the  fifth  chapter,  that 
when  Christ  prayed  He  was  heard  in  that  He  feared. 
He  had  g-odly  fear  towards  the  Father,  and  if  my 
Christian  character  is  to  be  perfect  and  all-around, 
I  must  have  the  fear  of  God  as  it  is  revealed  in  the 
Old  Testament,  working-  into  the  very  foundations 
of  my  life,  with  this  most  child-like  confidence  there 
must  ever  be  a  deep,  deep  fear  of  God  before   the 


CHRIST   BRINGING  US  TO   GOD.  131 

throne.  I  read  that  the  four  living-  creatures  and 
twenty-four  elders  cast  their  crowns  before  the  throne. 
I  read  that  ang-els  and  seraphim  veil  their  faces  with 
their  wings;  if  my  Christian  character  is  to  be  per- 
fect there  must  be  in  it  that  deep  consciousness  of 
the  inconceivable  g-reatness  of  God  above  me  that 
makes  me  bow  in  the  very  dust  before  Him.  And 
it  is  just  because  so  many  Christians  have  never 
g-iven  the  truth  a  right  place  in  their  hearts,  that 
Christ  came  to  bring  them  to  God.,  that  there  is  so 
wanting  in  them  that  blessed  element  of  fear  and 
reverence,  worship  and  adoration.  Come,  let  us 
think  what  this  means.  Christ  came  to  bring  us  to 
God.  I  am  not  going  to  try  and  give  you  a  theolog- 
ical essay  upon  the  atonement.  You  know  all 
about  that.  But  I  want  to  look  at  the  practical  side. 
My  object  is  to  help  the  beloved  workers  who  are 
being  trained  in  this  Institute,  not  so  much  as  to 
right  comprehension  and  clear  thought,  but  to  the 
down-right  practical  life,  such  as  God  would  have. 
If  we  could  get  a  step  nearer  that  life  all  our  study 
and  work  will  be  brighter  and  more  entirely  in  the 
power  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  How  can  I  make  it  clear 
that  Christ  brings  men  to  God?  I  think  I  can 
answer  it  in  this  way:  We  need,  in  our  practical, 
every-day  life,  to  be  brought  nigh  to  God  and  to  be 
living  in  that  nearness.  Let  me  take  the  morning 
hour  of  prayer.  A  man  wakes  up  in  the  morning 
with  the  thought,  Christ  is  come  to  bring  me  nearer 
to  God.  How  am  I  to  begin  the  day  if  I  am  to  live 
near  to  God?  That  is  what  the  heart  longs  for. 
Well,  come,  just  let  us  think  how  Christ  brings  us 


132  THE    SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

near  to  God.  A  man's  desire  to  walk  before  God  is 
strong-.  He  wants  to  be  as  full  of  God  as  he  can  be. 
How  is  he  to  attain  it?  I  want  to  g-ive  a  few  prac- 
tical thoughts. 

I  think,  first  of  all,  he  must  set  himself  to  g-ive 
God  the  place  that  belongs  to  Him.  If  I  want  to 
be  brought  nigh  to  a  person  I  want  to  know  who 
that  person  is.  If  he  is  a  king  or  emperor  I  ap- 
proach him  with  a  different  feeling-  from  what  I  ap- 
proach a  slave.  If  I  approach  a  friend  thoughts  of 
joy  fill  me.  Before  I  am  brought  to  God  I  must 
know  who  God  is,  and  as  I  bow  before  Him,  I  must 
say,  "He  is  the  Almighty  One,  the  All  Holy  One. 
He  cannot  bear  sin  or  the  shadow  of  sin.  He  wants 
to  take  it  away.  He  is  the  All  Loving  One,  He 
wants  to  communicate  Himself  to  me.  The  Every- 
where Present  One,  who  is  with  me  and  able  to 
make  Himself  known  to  my  soul."  If  I  want  to  be 
brought  nigh  to  God  I  must  first  say,  "He  is  God, 
and  my  soul  must  bow  in  lowly  stillness  and  in 
an  attitude  of  faith,  and  just  exercise  the  belief:  God 
is  here.  He,  the  Creator  of  all  things  on  the  earth, 
the  Incomprehensible  One;  He  is  a  consuming  fire; 
He  is  love  and  wants  to  impart  Himself  wholly  to 
me.  That  God  is  near.  But  I  do  not  know  Him;  I 
know  so  little  of  Him,  how  can  I  come  nigh  to 
Him?" 

Then  next  I  begin  to  think,  Who  am  I,  and  I  say, 
If  I  give  God  His  place  I  must  take  the  right  place 
for  myself.  I  am  a  creature  and  I  have  nothing 
holy.  I  have  nothing  good  except  what  God  gives 
me.       I  am  nothing  except  a  vessel  in  which  God 


CHRIST    BRINGING    US   TO    GOD.  133 

can  show  forth  His  g^lor}-,  and  therefore  I  want  to 
take  my  place  before  God  as  nothing-.  If  Christ  is 
to  bring-  me  to  God  I  must  sink  down  into  my  noth- 
ingness. I  am  not  only  a  creature  but  I  am  a  sin- 
ner. That  ought  to  make  me  take  a  still  lower 
place.  Paul  never  could  forg-et  that  He  was  the 
chief  of  sinners.  He  was  always  thinking-  of  that 
time  before  his  conversion  when  he  persecuted 
Christ  and  the  disciples;  so  he  bowed  low  in  his  old 
ag-e  and  said,  "I  am  the  chief  of  sinners."  He  was 
not  talking-  about  his  daily  sins.  He  was  talking- 
about  the  more  than  twenty  years  before,  when  he 
was  a  blasphemer.  You  know,  if  you  are  to  meet 
the  Emperor  of  China  there  are  certain  rules  about 
bowing  before  him.  And  there  are  certain  rules  if 
I  am  to  meet  God.  I  must  come  in  deep  self-abne- 
gation. And  then  I  am  a  redeemed  sinner;  this 
humbles  me  still  more.  I  take  the  lowest  place. 
There  is  God  waiting  for  me  to  hear  my  cry.  How 
can  I  have  intercourse  with  this  God  ?  Jesus  Christ 
brings  me  to  God. 

Take  the  third  step.  The  first  was:  give  God 
His  place  and  let  Him  be  seated  on  His  throne  of 
glory;  the  second:  take  your  place  before  God.  The 
third:  take  j^our  place  in  Christ  Jesus.  I  am  speak- 
ing to  believers.  You  understand  what  the  atone- 
ment is;  that  we  have  been  brought  nigh  by  the 
blood.  You  have  believed  that  for  yourself  person- 
ally, that  your  sins  are  pardoned  and  you  have  had 
access  to  God's  favor.  You  want,  this  morning,  to 
be  brought  into  a  life  always  near  to  God.  You 
need  Christ  to  do  it.       How  can  He  do  it?      Take 


134  THE  SPIRITUAL  IJFE. 

your  place  in  Christ  Jesus  and  by  an  act  of  faith 
and  by  the  light  of  the  Holy  Spirit  see  and  believe 
that  you  are  one  with  Christ.  Christ  is  before  the 
Father  and  you  are  in  Him  and  He  is  in  you.  No 
branch  was  ever  so  really  in  the  vine,  no  finger  of 
my  hand  was  ever  so  truly  in  my  body,  as  I  am  in 
Christ  by  a  vital  union,  and  as  Christ  is  in  me.  And 
when  I  want  to  come  to  God  I  am  told  that  the 
place  I  am  to  occupy  is  the  place  of  the  most  inti- 
mate nearness.  The  writer  of  the  Hebrews  teaches 
it.  The  efficacy  of  the  blood  is  our  boldness;  the 
living-  High  Priest  waits  to  bring  us  in.  It  is  not 
that  I  am  down  here  while  He  does  a  little  work  in 
and  for  me.  No!  As  the  High  Priest  who  says, 
"Ye  in  Me,  and  I  in  you,"  He  brings  me  to  God. 
In  the  power  of  my  union  with  Him,  in  living  fel- 
lowship with  Himself,  He  presents  me,  and  I,  by 
faith,  have  a  real,  abiding  access  within  the  veil, 
into  the  very  life,  into  the  very  heart  and  love  of 
God.  There  I  bow  in  holy  adoration  and  speak 
the  words. 

So  near,  so  very  near  to  God, 
More  near  I  cannot  be, 

For  in  the  person  of  His  Son 
I  am  as  near  as  He. 

Christ  came  to  bring  us  unto  God.  I  am 
not  only  in  Him  but  Christ  is  in  me  as  a  living 
person.  Christ  takes  charge  of  me,  Christ  intro- 
duces me  to  the  Father,  and  as  I  am  before  the 
Father,  Christ  gives  the  working  of  the  Holy  Spirit, 
and  He  teaches  me  what  my  work  is  when  I  am 
brought  nigh  to   God.         It  was  that  God  might 


J 


CHRIST   BRINGING   US  TO   GOD.  135 

get  His  children  in  a  life  of  fellowship  to  under- 
stand and  realize  who  He  is.  Some,  when  they  g-et 
within  the  veil,  when  they  are  brought  nigh  into 
the  holiest  of  all,  look  upon  it  as  a  grand  attain- 
ment. It  is  only  the  beginning  of  the  blessed  life. 
For,  when  I  am  there,  then  God  is  able  to  let  His 
light  shine  into  my  whole  being.  Then  God  is 
able  to  let  His  holiness  come  upon  me.  When  I  am 
there  God  is  able  to  make  me  bow  and  sink  down 
into  a  nothingness  and  into  humility  that  I  never 
thought  possible  to  attain  to,  that  I  may  be  there 
receiving  the  inflowing  of  God's  Holy  Spirit  in  a 
freshness  and  a  fullness  inconceivable.  Oh !  beloved, 
Christ  came  to  bring  us  very  nigh  to  God.  It  is 
not  only  nearness  of  acceptance  but  nearness  of  love, 
the  consciousness  that  He  loves  me  and  I  love  Him. 
It  is  the  nearness  of  that  union  of  love  which  con- 
sists in  the  closest  possible  fellowship.  Give  up 
all  in  emptiness  for  Him  to  fill,  and  God  waits  to 
come  down  and  pour  His  fullness  into  me.  Christ 
died  that  He  might  bring  us  unto  God,  and  in  that 
place,  in  God's  presence,  oh,  there  it  is,  that  not 
only  God's  work  in  me  is  to  be  done,  but  there  it  is 
I  am  to  learn  how  to  do  my  work  for  God.  In  that 
nearness  to  God  is  the  place  of  intercession. 
Throughout  the  church  of  Christ  there  is  a  univer^ 
sal  complaint  that  we  pray  too  little.  Some  work 
much  but  pray  little.  We  pay  far  more  attention 
to  what  we  have  to  do  with  men  than  to  what  we 
have  to  do  with  God.  Beloved,  the  fountains  of 
the  Christian  life,  the  fountains  of  the  outflow  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  the  fountains  of  love  and  power  to 


136  THE   SPIRITUAI.   LIFE. 

be  broken  up  in  our  hearts  and  to  be  poured  out  to 
men,  these  fountains  rise  from  the  throne  of  God, 
and  it  is  only  as  man  tarries  before  God  in  fellow- 
ship with  the  Most  High,  that  God's  love  can  flow 
through  us.  Ask  any  worker  of  experience,  ask 
any  man  who  has  preached  the  gospel  long,  and  he 
tells  you  he  has  to  mourn  the  fact  that  he  has  not 
had  that  deep  love  for  sinners  which  comes  from 
dwelling  in  the  love  of  God.  And  where  am  I  to 
receive  this  inflowing  love?  It  is  when  I  am  brought 
nigh  to  God.  There  it  is  I  learn  what  intercession 
is;  there  I  become  strong  to  bear  the  burden  of  the 
church  and  of  the  world  in  quiet  pleading  with  God. 
I  have  such  access  to  Him,  I  am  so  really  His  friend. 
He  gives  me  such  power  with  Him  that  I  know  I 
have  only  to  plead  and  an  answer  will  come.  Dear 
friends,  is  there  not  a  great  deal  of  our  living  of 
which  we  might  confess  it  bears  but  little  mark  of 
Christ  having  brought  us  nigh  to  God. 

There  is  another  step.  I  say  Christ  brings  us 
thus  nigh  to  God  in  Himself  that  we  may  act  out 
and  live  our  lives  in  the  world  in  that  nearness  to 
God.  You  occasionally  find  men,  when  they  speak 
in  public,  they  have  a  sense  of  God  upon  them.  I 
have  been  told  that  at  the  great  International  Con- 
vention in  London  there  was  more  than  one  speaker 
of  great  eloquence,  but  there  was  one  man,  whose 
very  presence,  when  he  rose  to  speak,  hushed  the 
audience.  The  very  presence  of  God  was  with  him. 
So,  with  a  man  like  Geo.  Muller,  who  has  spent  his 
whole  life  in  prayer,  the  presence  of  God  is  on  him. 
But  how  seldom  one  finds  this.     Of  George  Bowen, 


CHEIST   BRINGING   US   TO   GOD.  137 

of  India,  it  is  told,  that  he  had  said  that  the  near- 
ness of  God  was  nearer  unto  him  than  any  man  upon 
earth.  A  friend  asked  him  about  it,  and  his  answer 
was:  "Yes,  God  is  nearer  to  me,  consciously,  than 
any  one  in  this  room."  Is  it  not  that  presence  we 
want?  That  presence  of  God  to  go  out  and  meet 
men,  to  g-o  out  and  do  work,  to  g^o  out  and  eng-age 
in  business,  to  go  out  and  be  tempted  and  tried,  the 
presence  of  the  Everlasting  God  to  be  with  us  from 
morning  to  nig-ht,  moment  by  moment.  You  ask 
me,  Can  it  be?  I  ask  you,  I  have  asked  it  before,  I 
ask  it  again,  does  it  cost  you  any  trouble  to  enjoy 
the  sunlig-ht  from  moment  to  moment,  whether  you 
pick  up  a  book  to  read  or  whether  you  look  into  the 
face  of  a  friend  to  recog^nize  him,  or  whether  you  do 
business  or  domestic  work;  the  sun  takes  care  to 
shine  all  along.  God  has  given  it  to  you.  It  does 
its  work.  You  spend  every  moment  of  the  day  in 
the  enjoyment  of  that  light.  And  what  think  you? 
Would  your  God  care  more  to  have  such  provision 
made  for  your  body  than  for  your  spirit.  We  need 
not  be  in  the  dark,  without  the  lig-ht  of  the  sun, 
twelve  hours  of  the  day,  and  would  God  not  be  able 
and  make  provision  that  you  should  every  moment 
abide  in  the  light  of  His  presence  and  the  joy  of 
His  immediate  nearness.  Christ  came  and  died  to 
bring"  us  unto  God.  Listen  to  what  we  read  in  the 
Hebrews,  about  the  better  hope  of  the  New  Testa- 
ment "by  which  ive  draw  nigh  unto  God.''''  Listen 
to  what  we  read  in  the  same  chapter,  "He  is  able  to 
save  completely  them  that  come  to  God  by  Him." 
If  you  will   learn,    not  only   to  ask   this   blessing" 


138  THE   SPIRITUAI,   LIFE. 

among-  other  blessing-s,  but  if  you  will,  indeed,  be- 
lieve that  Christ  will  fulfill  this  work  in  you  and 
bring  you  nigh  unto  God,  so  that  every  moment  of 
your  life  is  spent  in  His  presence,  Christ  will  work 
it  out  in  your  life.  Christ  suffered  that  "He  might 
bring  us  to  God."  Dear  friends,  as  surely  as  we  are 
God's  children  our  life  can  be  full  of  God.  In  Ephe- 
sians,  Paul  tells  us  that  God  is  willing  to  strengthen 
us  with  might  by  His  Spirit  in  the  inner  man, 
until  we  are  filled  with  the  fullness  of  God  or  unto 
the  fullness  of  God.  I  long  thought  that  meant 
some  high  experience,  but  it  means  simply  that  God 
wants  to  be  present  with  us  with  such  conscious- 
ness that  our  heart  is  all  the  time  full  of  His  blessed 
presence,  His  holy  will  and  His  divine  inworking. 
Christ  wants  to  bring  us  nigh  to  God. 

One  more  thought.  When  Christ  brings  us  nigh 
to  God  He  brings  our  will  in  perfect  harmony  to  the 
will  of  God.  I  cannot  have  my  will  at  variance 
with  God's  will,  or  mourning  its  inability  to  do  God's 
will,  and  all  the  time  have  the  enjoyment  of  the 
blessing  of  God's  light  and  God's  presence, 

Christ  came  to  bring  me  to  God.  I  not  only  need 
faith  to  realize  that  He  is  in  me  and  I  in  Him,  but 
by  faith  I  need  to  give  myself  up  to  His  working, 
that  as  a  living  person  He  shall  reveal  the  will  of 
God  perfectly  in  me,  and  so  breathe  into  me  His  own 
disposition  and  His  own  life.  Christ  is  to  dwell  and 
live  in  me.  I  am  not  to  count  Christ  as  a  separate 
being,  dwelling  in  my  heart  as  a  locality,  but  Christ 
is  to  be  in  my  heart,  in  my  life,  in  my  thinking, 
living  and  willing,  as  the  very  life  of  all   I  do,   so 


CHRIST    BRINGING   US   TO    GOD.  139 

that  He  lives  Himself  out  throug-h  me.  So  Christ 
is  formed  in  me,  and  God  sees  the  very  fig"ure,  the 
very  form  of  Christ  within  me.  And  as  Christ  is 
thus  manifested  within  me  in  His  disposition  and 
Spirit,  the  nearness  of  God  becomes  more  intimate 
and  the  fellowship  with  God  becomes  more  close. 
Oh !  beloved,  God  wants  us  to  come  nig-h  to  Him  in 
Christ.  Are  there  not  many  Christians  who  live 
far  from  God?  When  you  press  this  thoug"ht  they 
are  satisfied  with  having-  been  pardoned  and  brought 
nig-h.  You  have  reason  to  doubt  your  position  un- 
less 3^ou  have  yielded  to  God  to  work  out  the  practi- 
cal, spiritual,  experimental  nearness  to  God.  We 
talked,  last  week,  about  the  baptism  of  the  Holy 
Spirit,  and  the  baptism  of  power,  and  the  life  of 
the  Spirit,  but  I  do  pray  you,  young  men  and  wo- 
men, who  are  going  to  devote  yourselves  to  service, 
and  you  believers  who  are  longing  to  live  holy  lives, 
remember  one  thing,  you  want  more  of  God  in  your 
life.  A  man  has  just  as  much  religion  as  he  has  of 
God,  and  if  a  man  wants  more  religion  he  must  have 
more  of  God.  We  have  a  great  deal  of  seeking  of 
more  religion,  more  power,  and  yet  we  do  not  think 
of  having  more  of  God.  God  created  you  for  Him- 
self to  fill  you  with  Himself.  Christ  redeemed  you 
to  be  filled  with  your  God.  Oh,  come  and  let  Christ 
do  His  work,  and  before  we  go  on  to  speak,  this 
evening,  about  that  life,  let  us  realize  this  one  su- 
preme thought,  Christ  wants  to  bring  me  to  God. 
I  want,  by  the  help  of  God,  to  be  very  practical,  and 
I  want  to  ask  believers,  is  this  what  you  are  seeking 
for?     Have  you  come  here  for  the  acquiring  of  new 


140  THE  SPIRITUAL  I,IFE. 

truths  or  thoug-hts,  or  are  you  here  that  Jesus  may 
bring-  you  near  to  God?  When  you  pray,  two  min- 
utes spent  in  quietly  g^iving-  yourself  to  be  broug-ht 
near  to  God  by  Christ  would  be  better  than  twenty 
minutes  in  prayer  in  the  ordinary  way.  We  often 
pour  out  our  petitions,  praise  and  confessions  to  a 
distant  God.  If  you  want  your  life  chang-ed,  if  you 
want  God  to  come  into  your  life,  if  you  want  God  to 
take  possession  of  your  life,  in  prayer  always  make 
your  first  desire:  "Son  of  the  Father,  bring  me 
near  to  God.''^  Bow  in  the  very  deepest  adoration 
and  reverence,  and  wait,  wait  before  Him.  It  is 
God's  own  work  to  reveal  Himself.  Bow  in  an  act 
of  faith;  the  Everlasting-  God  is  here,  longing  to 
take  possession  of  me,  willing-  to  make  Himself 
known.  I  wait  upon  God.  Bow  in  deep  lowliness, 
and  beseech  God,  for  His  g-reat  mercy's  sake,  to 
come  near  and  make  Himself  known  to  you.  I  often 
see  young-  Christians,  how  they  try  to  g-rasp  every 
truth  and  rejoice  over  every  beautiful  conception. 
They  resolve  to  live  entirely  for  God,  and  they 
know  not  how  much  self-confidence  there  is  in  all. 
I  pray  that  God  may  bring-  them  to  the  place  of 
feebleness  and  emptiness.  You  know  Peter's  con- 
secration. It  was  such  a  defective  consecration. 
He  said,  I  am  ready  to  g-o  to  prison  and  death.  He 
truly  meant  it,  but  it  was  in  self-confidence.  Christ 
led  him  to  see  it  when  He  allowed  him  to  fall. 
Then  he  was  humbled  and  wept  bitterly.  I  beseech 
you,  pray  to  God  with  your  whole  heart,  "Oh!  God, 
make  me  humble,  make  me  meek,  make  me  g-entle, 
and  let  the  g-lory  of  God  fill  my  soul  with  fear  and 


CIIKICT   BRINGING  US  TO   GOD.  141 

reverence  all  the  day."  Do  not  be  afraid  that  it 
will  take  away  your  joy.  It  will  strike  deeper  root 
into  the  very  depth  of  your  being-. 

Christ  suffered,  that  He  mig-ht  bring-  us  to  God. 
What  did  He  suffer?  Nothing  was  too  great.  He 
endured  all,  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God.  Are 
you  willing  to  take  time  and  trouble  that  you  may 
be  brought  nigh  to  God  ?  If  that  has  become  the 
object  of  our  desires  we  will  understand  the  work 
of  Christ  far  better,  and  our  understanding  and 
knowledge  of  that  work  will  bring  far  more  abund- 
ant fruit. 


142  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFK. 


Cbrfst  Xfvetb  in  Obc* 


I  want  to  speak,  this  evening,  about  the  life  that 
Christ  lives  in  us.  You  have  it  here  in  the  parable 
of  the  vine.  What  can  be  closer  or  more  intimate 
than  the  union  between  the  vine  and  the  branch  ? 
How  the  very  same  sap  that  is  in  the  vine  is  to  be 
found  in  the  branch.  We  have  very  many  kinds  of 
g-rapes,  but  in  each  case  the  juice  that  is  in  the  vine 
is  the  very  same  juice  that  is  in  the  branch.  And 
so  the  very  same  life  and  Spirit  which  is  in  Christ 
is  to  be  in  us.  This  is  the  great  lesson  we  want  to 
learn  to-night.  Read  Jno.  15: 1-12.  Our  life  is  to  be 
a  life  of  perfect  union  with  Jesus.  Let  us  join  in 
prayer  and  ask  God  to  reveal  to  us  something  of  the 
wonderful  glory  of  the  life  that  we  have  in  Christ 
Jesus,  and  let  us  believe  that  He  can,  even  now, 
give  us  definite  blessing. 

(Prayer.) 

We  want  to  have  a  clear  idea  of  what  we,  in  our 


CHKIST   LIVETH   IN   INIE.  143 

Christian  life,  aim  at.  The  question  is,  what  is  the 
work  that  Christ  does  to  bring  us  nigh  to  God  ?  In 
what  way  does  He  enable  us  to  live  as  God  wants  us 
to  live  ?  I  said,  this  morning,  that  we  too  often 
think  of  Christ  as  an  outward  person  here  on  earth, 
who  hears  and  helps  us.  A  man  may  come  and  give 
me  $10,000,  and  so  be  my  helper,  but  there  is  no  fur- 
ther union  between  him  and  me.  The  man  may  be 
a  great  benefactor,  but  there  is  no  organic  union  be- 
tween him  and  me.  I  may  never  see  him  again. 
Many  people  look  upon  Christ  as  such  a  separate, 
outward  Saviour.  They  never  can  fully  enjoy  His 
salvation.  I  must  believe  that  even  as  Christ  is  in 
heaven,  so  He  is  here  in  me,  His  branch.  He  comes 
into  my  inmost  life.  He  occupies  that  life.  He  lives 
there,  and  by  living  there  He  enables  me  to  live  as  a 
child  of  God.  Some  think  that  when  Christ  dwells 
within  us  He  comes  somewhere  in  the  region  of  the 
heart,  and  He  lives  there.  We  are  two  separate 
persons,  Christ  one  and  I  one,  and  somehow  He 
works  in  me  at  times.  No !  That  is  not  the  way. 
Christ  comes  into  me  and  becomes  my  very  life.  He 
comes  into  the  very  root  of  my  heart  and  being.  He 
comes  into  my  willing  and  thinking  and  feeling  and 
living,  and  lives  in  me  in  the  power  which  the  Om- 
nipresent God,  alone,  can  exercise.  When  I  under- 
stand this,  my  soul  bows  down  in  adoration  and 
confidence  toward  God.  I  live  in  the  flesh,  the  life 
of  flesh  and  blood,  but  Christ  dwelling  in  me  is  the 
true  life  of  my  life.  The  words  which  I  want  to 
speak  are  very  simple  and  well-known.  Gal.  2:  20. 
"Christ  liveth  in  me.       I  am  crucified  with  Christ, 


144  THE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

nevertheless  I  live,  yet  not  I,  but  Christ  liveth  in 
me."  Now,  the  point  to  which  I  want  to  direct  at- 
tention, this  evening-,  is  that  if  Christ  is  to  live  in 
me  He  does  not  live  in  me  by  a  blind  force,  nor 
without  my  knowing  it.  He  calls  me  to  come  and 
see  what  His  life  is,  and  so,  if  I  desire  His  life,  I 
must  give  up  mine.  I  must  also  give  up  all  wrong 
ideas  about  what  the  life  of  Christ  really  is.  I  can- 
not have  the  life  of  Christ,  in  power,  in  me,  unless 
I  seek  to  know  truly  what  the  life  is  that  He  lived. 
Oh!  come,  and  let  the  living  Christ  live  in  you. 
And  to  that  end,  seek  to  know  the  life  He  has  set 
before  you  in  His  example.  Not  that  we  are  able 
to  imitate  Christ.  But  because  Christ  lived  His 
life  for  us,  and  imparts  it  to  us,  therefore  we  can  do 
it.  What  folly  it  would  be  for  a  child  of  three 
years  to  say.  All  that  my  father  can  do  I  can  do. 
And  how  can  I  say,  I  can  live  as  the  mighty  Christ 
did?  What  folly!  To  attempt  to  walk  as  Christ 
did.  And  yet,  the  Bible  tells  me  I  must  do  it.  The 
Bible  also  tells  me  I  can  do  it,  because  "Christ  liv- 
eth in  me."  If  I  allow  the  living  Christ  to  take 
possession  of  my  will  and  desires,  I  can  walk  even 
as  He  walked.  Let  us  come  to  the  life  of  Christ,  and 
try  and  find  out  what  is  that  life  that  He  lived  on 
earth,  with  His  Father.  That  is  exactly  the  Christ 
who  liveth  in  us.  There  are  not  two  Christs,  only 
one,  the  Christ  that  lived  on  earth  is  the  Christ  that 
lives  in  my  heart.  The  great  mark  of  Christ  is  that 
He  lived  in  the  deepest  humility  and  dependence 
upon  the  Father.  He  said,  "I  can  do  nothing  of 
Myself."  In  everything  He  had  His  life  from  God. 
Note  five  points  in  His  life. 


CHRIST  LIVETH  IN  MB.  145 

Take  His  birth.  There  He  received  His  life 
from  God. 

Take  His  life  and  walk  on  earth.  He  always 
waited  upon  God.  He  lived  His  whole  life  in  de- 
pendence upon  God  alone. 

Take  His  death.  He  gave  up  His  life  to  God, 
even  unto  the  very  death. 

Take  His  resurrection.  He  received  His  life  back 
again  from  God  the  second  time. 

Take  His  ascension.  He  was  taken  up  to  heaven 
to  find  His  glory  with  God. 

Don't  3^ou  see,  from  the  beginning  to  the  end,  God 
was  everything  in  that  life.  If  I  understand  that, 
that  the  Christ  who  is  going  to  live  in  me  is  the 
Christ  that  honored  God  in  everything.  He  will 
work  that  same  disposition  in  me.  And  that  will 
be  the  beauty,  blessedness  and  strength  of  my  life, 
when  I  learn,  like  Christ,  to  know  that  in  every- 
thing God  is  all,  and  when  the  motto  of  His  life  be- 
comes mine:  "For  God,  to  God,  through  God,  are 
all  things."  Look  at  the  birth  of  Christ.  What 
does  that  mean  ?  God  gave  the  power  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  in  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  it  was  by  the  al- 
mighty power  of  God  that  Christ  was  born,  as  a 
child,  in  Bethlehem.  He  was  the  workmanship  of 
God.  God  sent  the  Holy  Spirit  to  form  Him,  and 
to  work  everything  in  connection  with  His  birth,  in 
the  Virgin  Mary.  Christ  always  remembered  that. 
He  always  told  the  people  His  Father  sent  Him. 
He  was  not  His  own  master.  He  acknowledged  that 
He  had  been  sent  by  God.  He  always  acknowledged 
that  He  had  His  life  from  God.       The  Father  hath 


146  THE  SPIRITUAI,  LIFE. 

given  all  thing's  into  the  hands  of  the  Son.  The 
Father  hath  given  unto  the  Son  to  have  life  in  Him- 
self. That  was  Christ's  starting  point.  My  life 
comes  from  God.  I  come  from  God.  I  have  noth- 
ing of  myself,  and  everything  I  get  I  must  get  from 
God.  Now,  if  Christ  took  that  stand,  I  wish  that 
we  could  be  brought  to  take  that  stand,  and  to  say, 
in  deep  truth,  "This  new  life  is  a  life  that  I  have 
from  God.  God  gave  it  me.  I  have  got  a  work  of 
God  right  in  my  heart,  by  the  Holy  Ghost,  in  re- 
generation. I  have  got  a  new  life  from  God."  And 
what  will  you  then  think  of  that  life  that  God  has 
given?  Who  is  going  to  maintain  it  ?  God,  alone, 
can  maintain  what  He  has  begun.  He  must  work 
it  out  to  completion.  He  must  perfect  it  to  the  very 
end.  So  my  life  is  given  by  God.  The  life  of 
Christ  and  the  life  of  my  soul  are  both  given  from 
God  in  heaven,  received  from  Him,  and  must  be  kept 
day  by  day,  in  deep  consciousness,  it  belongs  to 
God.  God,  alone,  can  keep  it  right,  maintain  it. 
It  is  the  highest  folly  for  me  to  think  I  can  keep  it 
myself.  Have  you  ever  studied  that  ?  I  have  re- 
ceived, from  the  living  God,  the  livingChristinme, 
and  I  am  not  to  try  and  live  out  that  life,  but  I  am 
to  take  it  to  God  and  acknowledge,  "My  God,  Thou 
hast  planted  it  in  me;  Thou,  alone,  canst  keep  it." 
Do  this  if  you  want  to  realize  what  that  dependence 
is,  how  Christ  lived  His  whole  life  in  dependence 
upon  God's  will  and  God's  strength  and  God's  might. 
He  said,  regarding  that  question  of  strength,  "The 
Son  can  do  nothing  of  Himself."  Was  that  really 
true?    Yes.     He  said,  "The  words  I  speak,  I  speak 


CHRIST   IJVETH   IN   ME.  147 

not  of  Myself,  but  as  the  Father  showeth  the  works, 
them  I  do."  He  said  in  reg-ard  to  His  will,  "I  came 
not  to  do  my  own  will."  I  cannot  trust  my  will.  I 
do  not  know  what  I  ought  to  do.  I  wait  fully,  that 
the  Everlasting  God  might  work  out  what  is  right. 
If  Christ,  the  Holy  One,  needed  to  say  that,  don't 
you  think  you  and  I  need  it  ten  thousand  times 
more  ?  And  that  is  what  we  want  Christ  to  come 
into  us  for,  to  breathe  in  us  that  very  disposition, 
and  that  is  what  I  speak  of.  The  very  highest 
virtues  of  any  Christian  life  is  only  to  let  God  have 
His  way.  Only  to  give  God  the  opportunity  of  do- 
ing His  work  in  us,  and  coming  day  by  day,  hour  by 
hour,  to  the  place  of  absolute  dependence  upon  God, 
and  to  learn  one  lesson.  "Oh!  God,  I  have  noth- 
ing. I  do  not  know  anything,  I  am  nothing,  noth- 
ing, and  I  can  only  do  what  God  makes  me."  And 
now,  how  is  Christ  to  bring  me  near  to  God  ?  He 
cannot  bring  me  near  to  God  in  any  other  way  than 
the  way  He  came  Himself.  What  was  that  way? 
The  way  of  the  deepest  self-abnegation,  the  way  of 
the  most  entire  surrender  to  God.  He  was  forever  ex- 
pecting God  to  work  in  Him,  to  look  to  God  for 
strength.  He  prayed  to  God  for  guidance.  He 
cried  to  God  in  His  trouble.  God  was  everything, 
everything  to  Him,  and  Christ  was  content  to  be 
nothing.  Are  you  willing  to  have  this  Christ  to 
come  into  your  life?  Dear  friends,  I  cannot  speak 
it  out  plain  enough  in  words.  The  great  reason  why 
our  Christian  life  does  not  advance  more,  is:  we  try 
to  do  too  much  ourselves.  We  are  far  too  self-active 
and  self-confident.     We,  perhaps,  never  learned  the 


148  the;  spikituai,  life. 

simple  elementary  lesson  that  the  only  place  for  me 
before  God  is  just  to  be  nothing-  and  God  will  work 
in  me.  Look  at  the  ang^els  in  heaven,  the  seraphim 
and  cherubim.  Why  are  they  such  bright  flames 
before  the  throne  of  God  ?  Because  they  are  noth- 
ing, nothing-  in  them  to  hinder  God,  and  He  can  let 
the  g-lory  of  His  presence  burn  rig-ht  through 
them.  And  why  was  Christ  so  perfect,  and  why  did 
Christ  gain  such  victory,  and  why  did  Christ  please 
God  so  ?  It  is  this  one  reason.  He  allowed  God  to 
work  in  Him  from  morning  until  night,  and  every 
step  was  just  in  dependence  upon  God.  He  said, 
"Father,  guide  me,"  "Father,  I  wait  upon  Thee,'' 
"Father,  work  in  me,"  and  when  Christ  comes  to  live 
in  us,  do  believe  me  and  God's  word,  the  first  and 
chief  thing  He  wants  to  work  in  you,  is  an  absolute 
dependence  upon  your  God.  Christians,  have  you 
not  to  confess,  I  have  never  seen  that  right.  I  have 
not  lived  it  out.  I  have  not  understood  that,  from 
morning  to  night,  I  must  let  God  work  in  me,  I 
must  do  nothing.  You  may  say.  How  can  we  do 
our  work?  Was  Christ  also  inactive?  Was  the 
Apostle  inactive  ?  With  a  restless  activity  he  trav- 
ersed the  world,  and  yet,  all  the  time,  he  says,  "I 
am  nothing."  Waiting  upon  God  won't  make  us  in- 
active.    It  will  give  us  a  higher  activity. 

Pray  to  God  to  teach  us  that  Christ  in  us  needs  a 
life  of  absolute,  entire  dependence  upon  God. 

Look  at  the  death  of  Christ.  What  does  that 
mean?  It  means  that  the  life  that  God  had  given 
He  gave  that  up  entirely  to  God,  and  that  means 
this:       He  said,    "I  have  no  wish  to  regard  my  life 


CHKIST    L,IVETH    IN    ME.  149 

as  my  own  property.  If  God  wants  it,  however 
much  suffering-,  however  much  shame  and  death,  it 
costs  me,  if  God  wants  it,  I  g-ive  it  up  to  God." 
That  is  fair.  That  is  rig-ht.  If  I  have  everything 
from  God  then  everything-  ought  to  return  to  God. 
Thus  with  Christ.  That  had  been  His  whole  life 
through,  for  His  death  was  nothing  but  the  com- 
pletion of  the  spirit  that  had  indicated  all  His  life. 
When  He  was  only  twelve  3'ears  old,  remember,  He 
said  to  Mary,  "Know  ye  not  I  must  be  about  my 
Father's  business?"  And  time  after  time  He  said, 
"It  is  my  meat  and  drink  to  do  the  will  of  Him  that 
sent  me."  "I  am  not  come  to  do  my  own  will,  but 
the  will  of  Him  that  sent  Me."  And  so  He  went 
down  to  Gethsemane,  where  He  said  to  the  Father, 
"Not  my  will  but  Thine  be  done."  I  am  afraid  we 
have  never  acknowledged  the  right  that  God  has, 
and  that  we  have  never  understood,  every  power  I 
have  comes  straight  from  God,  my  whole  life  comes 
from  God,  and  every  moment  of  my  life  ought  to  go 
back  to  God,  and  every  strength  I  get  in  the  spirit- 
ual life  comes  from  God,  just  as  the  sunlight  comes 
from  the  sun,  and  everything  ought  to  go  back  to 
God,  and  every  action  will  be  to  the  glory  of  God. 
A  Christian  who  has  Christ  in  him,  will  be  a  man 
truly  sacred  and  given  up  wholly  to  God.  Is  that 
easy?  No.  Why?  Because  self  is  in  us  so  strong. 
The  curse  of  sin  has  brought  us  into  that  fearful 
condition,  that  instead  of  considering  it  an  honor 
and  a  privilege  to  be  nothing  and  to  do  His  will,  we 
have  come  to  look  upon  it  as  hard.  We  have  come 
to  look  upon  it  as   a  high   attainment,   indicating 


ISO  ThK  SPIRITUAI,  I,IFE. 

that  we  cannot  attain  to  it.  If  a  man  gives  up  him- 
self, and  will  come  to  God,  he  can  live  this  life  of 
Christ  living-  in  him,  or  else  the  Bible  cannot  be 
true.  Paul,  writing-  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Colossians, 
prayed  for  the  Colossians,  that  they  mig-ht  stand 
perfect  and  complete  in  all  the  will  of  God.  Col. 
4:  12.  Beloved  !  listen.  Christ  only  lived  for  God's 
will,  and  do  you  want  that  Christ  in  your  hearts,  or 
do  you  want  to  try  and  live  a  little  for  your  own 
will?  Do  you  want  the  living-  Christ,  the  Christ 
that  reveals  God,  the  living-  Christ,  who  gave  up 
everything,  do  you  want  that  Christ?  Oh!  come 
now.  If  there  is  any  man  who  has  a  right  tosayit, 
it  is  Christ.  This  is  what  I  want,  such  a  Christ  to 
live  in  me.  A  Christ  that  will  enable  me  to  live  in 
dependence  upon  God,  and  in  surrender  to  God. 
God  gives  you  this  Christ,  if,  from  the  heart,  you 
give  up  your  life,  time  and  will  to  God  to  do  that 
very  special  thing  in  me.  What  does  it  mean  ?  It 
means  a  great  deal.  There  was  that  beautiful,  per- 
fect life  of  Christ,  without  one  sin.  Was  it  neces- 
sary to  give  up  that  life  ?  Yes.  Because  that  life 
of  Christ  was  connected  with  us  and  Adam,  who 
were  in  the  power  of  sin,  and  God  said  if  He  wanted 
a  life  of  everlasting  glory,  the  life  with  us,  con- 
nected with  Adam  and  sin,  must  be  laid  down  in 
death.  Christ  said,  "What  shall  I  do?  I  want  to  be 
glorified  with  the  Father. "  He  had  prayed,  ''Fa- 
ther, glorify  Thy  Son."  He  felt,  I  cannot  have 
the  two  lives.  I  cannot  take  this  life,  that  I  got 
from  the  flesh,  that  is  in  the  likeness  of  the  flesh, 
to  heaven.       It  cannot  be.       So  the  question  came, 


CHRIST  LlVIiTH   IN   ME.  151 

Will  you  give  up  this  life  that  you  have  from  Adam, 
under  the  curse  of  sin.  Will  you  give  it  up  if  God 
will  give  you  a  life  of  everlasting  glory.  Christ 
said,  Yes.  Christ  sa3'S,  If  you  want  Me  to  live  in 
you,  you  must  do  what  I  did.  Your  own  life  must 
be  given  up  to  the  very  death,  unto  the  death  of  the 
cross,  to  be  crucified.  I  must  die  to  self,  I  must  die 
to  the  world,  1  must  be  an  actual  partaker  of  the 
death  of  Christ.  "If  we  are  planted  in  the  likeness 
of  His  death,  we  shall  be  raised  in  the  likeness  of 
His  resurrection."  I  must  say  to  God,  I  must  seek 
to  lose  my  life,  and  I  want  to  die  to  self,  and  I  want 
Him  to  come  into  me  with  His  death,  and  to  take 
me  down  into  it. 

Fourth  step.  Resurrection.  What  does  that 
mean?  It  means  that  when  Christ  laid  down  His 
life  into  the  grave,  that  God  gave  it  back  to  Him  in 
double  glory.  When  Christ  had  gone  down  into  the 
grave  and  into  death,  God  lifted  Him  up  and  gave 
Him  a  new  life,  infinitely  higher  and  better  than 
the  life  He  laid  down.  That  teaches  me  this:  That 
if  I  am  willing  to  lay  down  my  evil  life,  my  evil 
will,  my  heart  and  its  affections,  all  my  power  in 
this  world,  to  give  it  all  up  to  God,  to  die  to  it,  and 
to  give  up  myself  wholly  to  trust  and  wait  upon 
God,  God  will  give  the  new  and  resurrection  life  of 
Christ,  in  my  heart,  here  on  earth.  Christ  the  Liv- 
ing One,  who  was  raised  from  death,  will  come  and 
live  in  my  heart.  "As  He  was  dead,  and  is  alive, 
for  evermore."  Study  the  grave  of  Jesus.  What 
does  it  mean?  Christ  gave  Himself  up  unto  death, 
utter  helplessness,  to  be  nothing  before   God,   and 


152  THE  SPIRITUAL  UFE. 

there  He  lay,  just  allowing-  God  to  take  His  time  to 
do  His  work.  When  He  was  in  the  grave,  in  dark- 
ness, in  death.  He  left  it  to  God,  to  do  what  mig-ht 
please  Him.  What  did  God  do?  God  fulfilled  His 
promise,  and  g-ave  Him  a  life  a  thousand  times  more 
glorious  than  that  life  sacrificed  on  Calvary.  Lis- 
ten, if  you  want  Christ  to  really  live  in  your  heart 
you  want  that  Christ  who  went  down  into  the  grave. 
He  had  trusted  God  and  was  raised  by  God  ag-ain. 
You  want  Christ,  with  the  resurrected  life,  to  come 
into  you,  and  be  one  with  you,  the  Christ  who  was 
dead  and  is  alive  for  evermore,  and  comes  and 
brings  the  power  of  His  death  in  me,  so  that  every- 
thing- dies  to  self  and  sin,  and  bring-s  the  power  of 
His  life,  so  that  everything  in  me  can  live  with  a 
new  life  from  God,  even  Jesus  Christ  that  wants  to 
live  in  me.  I  do  beseech  you,  do  not  let  yourselves 
be  deceived  with  some  thoughts  about  the  presence 
of  Jesus.  Just  think  of  Him  specially  in  me. 
Trust  in  Him.  Let  it  become  a  reality.  Let  Him 
become  a  live  presence.  Who  is  this  Christ  who 
lives  in  me  ?  He  is  a  man  who  received  His  life 
from  God,  who  lived  that  life  in  intimate  depend- 
ence upon  God,  a  man  who  gave  up  His  whole  life 
and  will  to  God,  the  man  raised  from  the  dead  by 
the  almighty  power  of  God.  This  is  the  Christ  to 
live  in  you. 

Last.  After  His  resurrection  He  ascended  up  into 
heaven.  It  means  that  God  took  Him  up  into  the 
place  of  power,  to  share  with  Him  in  His  throne  of 
glory,  to  make  Him  partaker  of  that  divine  power, 
by  which  the  Holy  Spirit  is  to  become  a  blessing  to 


CHRIST   LIVETH   IN    ME.  153 

the  world.  There  are  some  who  cry,  How  can  I  be 
a  blessing"  to  my  fellow-men?  How  did  Christ  be- 
come a  blessing-  to  the  world  ?  He  g^ave  Himself  up 
to  God,  and  He  died  to  Himself  and  to  His  own 
natural  life,  and  waited  for  God  to  raise  Him  up- 
And  because  He  did  so  God  lifted  Him  up  to  the 
place  of  blessing-.  He  g^ave  Him  the  fullness  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  g-ive  you.  You  want  Christ.  He  is 
in  heaven,  but,  oh !  my  brother,  you  cannot  have 
Christ  until  you  have  learned  the  lesson  of  depend- 
ing upon  God,  to  die,  and  then  you  must  learn  by 
faith  to  claim  Christ  in  the  resurrection  and  in  the 
ascension,  and  thus,  as  Jesus  Christ  lives  in  you  in 
your  earthly  life  you  will  become  a  sharer  of  the 
glory  of  His  heavenly  love.  The  whole  Christ-life 
in  you,  the  Christ  dependence  upon  God,  the  Christ 
given  up  to  God,  the  Christ  raised  up  by  God,  and 
the  Christ  exalted  above,  with  God,  this  Christ 
wants  to  come  and  live  in  you.  If  Christ  is  to 
bring  me  near  to  God  then  it  cannot  be  as  an  out- 
ward person.  He  up  in  heaven  and  He  dwelling 
and  living  in  me.  How  is  Christ  going  to  bring 
me  near  to  God  ?  Only  one  way.  Christ  must  live 
in  my  heart.  He  must  live  in  me  by  united  har- 
mony and  oneness  of  faith  towards  that  God.  This 
is  a  spiritual  mystery,  but  God  is  a  Holy  Spiritual 
Being,  and  I  cannot  draw  nigh  to  Him  by  my 
thought  nor  by  thinking  about  a  certain  locality  of 
heaven.  Being  brought  to  God  means  that  Christ 
comes  into  me  and  lives  His  life  in  me,  and  leads  me 
up  into  personal  fellowship  with  the  Living  God. 
Now  the  great  question  that  stirs  the   church   is: 


154  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

Why  are  Christians  so  feeble  ?  And  the  great  ques- 
tion with  many  is:  What  can  we  do  to  get  the  full 
Christian  life,  to  live  as  God  promises  we  can  live  ? 
What  can  we  do  to  become  just  such  children  of 
God  as  the  Father  is  able  to  make  us,  branches  of 
the  Living-  Vine,  to  the  g^lory  of  God.  My  beloved 
Christians,  let  me  bring-  you  to  the  point.  What 
have  you  to  do?  First  of  all,  we  must  look  upon 
this  Christ,  and  ask  ourselves,  Am  I  willing  to  g-ive 
up  everything-,  that  this  Christ  can  live  in  me  ? 
You  saw  and  know  how  Christ  lived  in  Paul.  Why, 
it  was  as  if  Christ  had  become  incarnated  in  Paul. 
The  same  zeal  for  God,  same  love  for  souls,  and 
same  readiness  to  sacrifice  everything-.  Everything- 
great  in  Paul  was  the  complete  Christ-life  in  him. 
There  have  been  Christians  since  that  day,  that  you 
could  see  the  very  form  of  Christ  in  them.  Now, 
are  you  willing  to  have  such  a  Christ?  Suppose 
this  were  possible,  if  God  were  to  offer  anyone  of  us, 
that  were  willing  for  it.  Suppose  you  were  to  be 
as  poor  as  Christ  was,  as  persecuted  as  He  was,  and 
suppose  God  were  to  say.  My  children,  I  am  giving 
the  highest  glory  to  man,  to  allow  the  Christ  to 
come  and  live  in  him  and  live  this  suffering  life 
that  He  lived.  How  many  of  us  would  say,  Yes, 
Lord,  I  would  give  anything  that  Christ  might  take 
possession  of  me  ?  How  many  would  say,  Here,  in 
Chicago,  I  cannot  do  it.  It  would  cost  too  much  in 
business,  to  take  Him  in  me  that  way.  Oh  !  friends, 
God  comes  to  us  with  that  question,  Are  you  willing 
to  have  my  Son,  Jesus,  as  you  find  Him  in  the  word, 
in  His  humility,  in  His  dependence,  in  His  submis- 


CHRIST   LIVETII    IN    ME.  15i 

sion  and  obedience,  in  His  surrender  to  death  and 
the  grave,  in  His  waiting-  upon  God  to  raise  Him, 
are  you  willing  to  have  that  Christ  live  in  your 
heart?  Some  men  want  life  to  study.  They  never 
get  enough  wisdom.     They  long  for  knowledge. 

Are  there  none  willing,  to-night,  to  ask  God  to 
make  them  willing.  I  feel  that  it  is  time  to  be 
trusting  Jesus.  My  life  is  so  unlike  Jesus,  and  yet, 
He  gave  His  blood  for  it.  Are  there  not  here  some 
who  are  willing  to  sa}',  Lord  God,  help  me,  I  do  de- 
sire to  have  this  life  and  this  Christ  in  me.  Is  there 
someone  trembling,  perhaps?  I  had  a  note  from 
someone  this  morning.  They  said  they  were  afraid 
they  were  not  willing  to  take  the  step  God  requires. 
They  said,  would  I  pray  that  they  might  be  willing. 
Well,  I  do  not  know  whether  the  writer  is  here,  but 
I  know  that  there  is  someone  that  feels,  I  am  afraid 
I  am  not  willing  to  let  the  real  Christ,  just  as  He 
lived  on  earth,  live  in  me.  I  am  not  ready  to  live  a 
life  of  real  dependence  upon  God,  every  minute  in 
the  presence  of  God.  I  am  not  willing  to  give  up 
all  my  pleasure  and  will.  Are  you  willing  ?  It 
looks  hard,  but  are  you  willing  to  come?  If  you 
cannot  say  that,  are  you  willing  to  say  that  you  are 
willing  to  be  made  willing  to  come  ?  I  say.  Do  you 
will  to  be  made  willing?  Very  well,  do  it.  Say, 
We  can  come.  I  would  to  God  that  every  one  here 
were  willing.  Oh  !  come,  though  your  heart  is  so 
feeble,  say,  I  do  want  that  Christ  to  live,  completely, 
His  own  life  in  me,  and  just  reproduce  His  own  life 
and  make  me  exactly  like  Himself,  to  live  for  man, 
in  Him.       He  is  ready.       Beloved,  you  have  often 


156  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

and  often  heard  the  g-ospel  and  heard  the  g-ospel  of 
sanctification  and  consecration  and  obedience,  but 
have  you  understood  and  have  you  accepted  this 
truth,  that  it  just  means  letting-  g-o  everything-,  and 
letting- Christ  have  all?  Are  you  willing-?  Are 
you  willing  to  pray,  God  make  me  willing-,  to-nig-ht? 
Your  life  can  be  chang-ed,  and  then  comes  the 
second  question,  if  you  are  willing-  are  you  g-oing-  in 
fully  to  trust  God,  to-night,  to  take  you  and  to  begin 
this  great  work  in  you  by  letting  the  life  of  Christ 
have  perfect  dominion?  Are  you  willing  to  say,  I 
want  to  become  all  Christ  can  make  me  ?  I  want  to 
please  God  in  everything.  I  do  want  Christ  to  do 
His  best  in  me,  I  want  to  give  myself  to  Christ,  to 
let  Him  have  everything.  Will  you  not,  to-night, 
believe  an  Everlasting  Almighty  Christ  is  waiting 
and  willing,  ready  and  able,  to  take  possession  of 
you  ?  Yes  !  Shall  I  not,  to-night,  claim  Christ  as 
my  indwelling  Lord,  and  say.  Son  of  God,  why  wilt 
Thou  not  take  me  wholly  for  Thyself?  It  looks 
hard,  and  dark,  and  impossible,  but  I  am  going  to 
trust  Thee,  Thou  Lamb  of  God.  I  long  to  be 
brought  into  the  very  closest  union.  Oh !  man  and 
woman,  you  are  Christians;  do  not  be  contented  any 
longer  with  a  half-hearted  Christianity.  Saying,  "I 
am  saved,  and  pardoned.  I  have  got  a  little  of 
Christ,  I  do  my  best. "  Oh  !  come  to  the  full  life  that 
God  offers  you.  Let  Christ  take  entire  possession. 
Let  Christ  come  in.  The  Humble  One,  the  Obedi- 
ent One,  the  Suffering  One,  the  Dying  One,  the  One 
who  lived  in  dependence  upon  God,  and  say.  That 
shall  be  my  life  if  Christ  will  live  in  me.     Oh !  God, 


CHRIST   LIVETH    IN    ME.  157 

Lord,  I  am  willing-,  and  I  know  Thou  art  willing-. 
I  can  trust  Thee.  Oh  !  God,  come.  And  may  it 
please  God  now,  in  prayer,  to  help  some  soul  to 
touch  Christ,  and  bend  the  heart  to  God  to  come  in, 
and  may  some  souls  come  to  lay  this  life  on  Christ, 
at  Calvary,  and  say.  Oh !  God,  g-iven  up  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.  Is  that  blasphemy?  No!  It  is 
given  up  in  Christ,  and  Christ  lives  in  me.  God 
will  make  it  a  truth  and  a  reality.     Let  us  pray. 


158  THE  SPIRITUAI.  LIFE. 


XTbe  tJeavenl^  ^Treasure  in  tbc  Eartben 
Vessel. 


In  the  fourth  chapter  of  second  Corinthians  and 
the  seventh  verse,  we  have  these  words,  "But  we 
have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that  the  ex- 
cellency of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not  ot  us." 
Before  I  beg-in  to  speak  on  the  subject  direct,  let  me 
make  two  remarks.  The  one  is,  that  in  my  first  ad- 
dress, and  later  on,  I  more  than  once  tried  to  im- 
press the  thoug-ht,  that  we  may  be  making-  a  great 
mistake  when  we  seek  for  the  baptism  of  the  Spirit 
for  power  for  work  and  service.  Not  that  we  are 
wrong  in  seeking-  that.  But  we  are  often  thinking 
too  exclusively  of  the  power,  and  not  realizing  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  waits  to  come  as  a  life,  renewing 
our  whole  being-  into  the  likeness  of  Christ.  You 
know  how  I  have,  more  than  once,  tried  to  press 
this  side  of  the  truth.  Get  the  Holy  Spirit,  in  all 
His  power,  into  your  life,  to  make  you  spiritually- 


THE  HEAVENLY  TREASURE.         159 

minded,  to  fill  you  with  love  and  humility,  and  you 
will  be  fitted  for  work.  But  I  would  be  very  sorry 
if  any  one  should  think  that  I  count  work  of  little 
value.  All  that  God  wants  to  do  for  you  has  this 
object:  That  you  may  bring-  forth  much  fruit. 
Therefore,  beware  of  misunderstanding-  me,  and 
thinking  that  I  would  have  you  seek  only  for  the 
higher  life.  That  might  be  a  selfish  thing-,  and 
therefore  I  want  to  speak,  this  morning",  about  work, 
the  work  every  one  of  us  has  to  do.  The  other  re- 
mark is  this:  A  good  while  before  I  came  away 
from  South  Africa,  I  read,  in  an  old  author,  a  sen- 
tence that  impressed  me  deeply,  and  I  wrote  it  down 
in  one  of  my  note  books.  It  was  this,  "The  first 
duty  of  every  clergyman  is  to  beg-  of  God,  very 
humbly,  that  all  that  he  wants  to  be  done  in  his  hear- 
ers, may  first  he  fully  and  truly  done  in  himself. "  I 
cannot  say  what  power  there  appears  to  be  in  this 
sentence.  Brother  minister  and  brother  worker,  the 
first  duty  of  one  who  works  for  Christ  and  speaks 
for  Him,  is  to  humbly  come  to  God  and  ask  that 
everything  he  wants  done  in  his  hearers  may  first 
be  thoroughly  and  fully  done  in  himself.  That 
brings  us  to  the  root  of  all  true  work.  When  I 
speak  about  the  love  of  God,  of  the  power  of  re- 
demption, of  the  salvation  from  sin,  or  the  filling- 
of  the  Holy  Spirit,  or  the  love  of  God  shed  abroad 
in  the  heart,  you  and  I  need  to  have  God  do  the 
thing  in  ourselves,  and  the  more  earnestly  we  seek 
that,  the  more  there  will  be  a  hidden  power  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  to  pass  through  from  us,  /;/  whom  God 
has  done  -what  He  sends  us  to  preach.     That  thought, 


100  THK   SPIKITUAL   LIFE. 

I  think  you  will  see,  has  close  connection  with  the 
subject  we  have  this  morning-.  Paul  writes  about 
his  ministry,  in  the  first  five  verses,  and  then  he 
says,  when  he  had  spoken  the  wonderful  words, 
"God  hath  shined  into  our  hearts,  to  give  us,  and 
throug-h  us  to  give  others,  the  light  of  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Jesus 
Christ."  But  then  he  thinks  how  the  Corinthians 
may  despise  him,  how  the  world  looked  down  upon 
him  in  all  his  troubles  and  humiliation,  and  he  adds, 
"But  we  have  this  treasure  in  earthen  vessels,  that 
the  excellency  of  the  power  may  be  of  God  and  not 
of  us."  I  want  to  say  to  all  of  you,  beloved  work- 
ers, who  long  to  know  what  the  right  spirit  is  in 
which  to  work,  that  this  word  is  one  of  the  key- 
words of  God,  about  work.  It  will  show  you  four 
wondrous  things: 

1.  The  greatness  of  the  heavenly  treasure. 

2.  The  feebleness  of  the  earthly  vessel. 

3.  The  abiding  difference  between  the  two. 

4.  The  living  union  in  which  they  are  found. 
First  of  all,  the  heavenly  treasure.     What  is  that? 

You  know  what  he  has  stated  in  the  words  I  have 
just  quoted.  God  hath  shined  into  our  hearts. 
Think  of  the  sun.  That  makes  us  have  all  the 
sunshine;  the  sunshine  into  our  eyes,  into  our  bodies, 
into  our  very  spirit,  and  gives  warmth  and  heat  and 
light  of  life.  So,  Paul  says,  'God,  the  Everlasting 
One,  has  shined,  and  is  shining  all  along  into  our 
hearts,  to  give  what?  Shining  gives  light,  and 
God  shining  gives  the  light  of  the  glory  of  God. 
Yes,  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God 


TIIK    HKAVKNLY  TREASURE.  161 

in  the  face  of  Christ.'  Does  that  not  bring-  us  back 
to  what  I  have  said  more  than  once,  Christ  wants 
to  bring-  us  to  God,  and  in  the  face  of  Christ,  our 
one  great  study,  our  one  great  object  and 
desire  should  be,  that  the  g'lory  of  God 
may  be  revealed  in  us,  that  we,  like  the 
ang-els  in  heaven,  walk  before  Him  with  bowed 
faces,  worshiping-  and  adoringf  all  the  day  long. 
God  shines  into  our  hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit,  and 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  Hereveals  thelig-ht  of  theknowl- 
edg-e  of  the  g-lory  of  God.  It  is  not  an  intellectual 
knowledg-e,  but  in  the  heart.  A  man  may  have 
beautiful  thoughts,  he  may  be  a  splendid  preacher, 
he  ma}'  be  a  most  edifying-  instructor,  yet,  there 
may  be  very  much  more  of  intellect  in  him  than  of 
God's  Spirit.  It  must  be  a  relig-ion  of  the  heart. 
God  is  love.  The  love  of  God  is  the  love  of  the 
heart.  God  seeks  the  heart,  and  God  shines  into 
the  heart,  and  in  the  heart  the  seed  of  love  dwells, 
and  the  love  of  God  reveals  His  g^lor}'.  The  lig-ht 
of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  face  of 
Jesus  Christ. 

Now  what  is  the  heavenly  treasure  I  am  to  have 
and  I  am  to  carry?  I  may  use  different  words.  I 
can  call  it  the  light  of  God.  I  can  call  it  the  knowl- 
edge of  God.  I  can  call  it  the  glory  of  God.  I  can 
call  it  the  love  of  God  in  Jesus  Christ.  Dear  friends, 
the  treasure  you  have  to  carry,  as  a  worker  for  God, 
is  a  heavenly  treasure.  The  more  you  realize  its 
greatness,  the  more  you  will  be  able  to  do  your 
work.  If  I  am  a  poor  man,  and  a  beggar  asks  me 
for  something,  I  may  give  him  according  to  what  I 


162  THE   SPIKITUAL   LIFE. 

have.  I  may  g^ive  him  the  last  dollar.  But  if  I  am 
rich  I  could  g-ive  him  thousands,  if  need  be.  I  can 
give  liberally.  Believer,  if  you  g-et  the  conscious- 
ness, I  am  a  rich  man,  I  am  a  millionaire,  I  have 
heavenly  treasures,  I  have  the  key  of  the  treasures 
of  my  God.  Oh  !  what  joy  andconfidence  and  power 
you  will  have  to  make  others  believe  there  is  a  heav- 
enly blessing"  to  get.  Oh !  we  talk  about  the  bless- 
ing", and  try  to  know  the  different  truth.  But  how 
different,  if  our  hearts  were  burning  with  the  heav- 
enly life  of  God.  If  the  life  of  God  burns  in  us,  in 
the  deepest  regions  of  our  being,  what  a  life  of 
blessing.  Just  think  of  a  life,  with  the  light  of  the 
face  of  the  glory  of  God  shining  into  us  all  the  day. 
What  a  heavenly  treasure  to  carry  about  with  us ! 
That  light  would  shine  through  us,  and  would  be 
reflected  from  us.  I  pray  you,  get  the  light  of  the 
glory  of  God  into  j' our  souls.  Oh !  workers,  the 
heavenly  treasure  is  not  human  knowledge,  it  is  not 
thought,  it  is  not  a  little  experience,  but  it  is  the 
very  sunshine  of  God's  glory  in  the  soul.  God 
would  have  you  take  the  heavenly  treasure,  and  if 
you  will  get  your  souls  full  of  the  consciousness,  I 
am  carrying  about  the  heavenly  treasure  in  me,  I  am 
an  earthen  vessel,  but  I  have  the  heavenly  treasure, 
you  would  go  forth  in  new  confidence  and  power. 
Oh !  study  it  not  only  in  books,  nor  even  in  the 
Bible.  I  do  not  depreciate  books,  and  ten  thousand 
times,  no,  I  do  not  depreciate  the  Bible,  but  the 
Bible  cannot  give  it  you.  The  Bible  is  only  a 
pointer  to  show  you  up  to  God,  that  you  may  be 
able  to  come  into  God's  presence.      It  is  found  only 


THE  HEAVENLY  TKEASUKE.         163 

in  God's  presence.  Say,  Oh !  God,  shine  into  my 
heart.  Remember,  that  the  shining-  of  God  must 
come  ever  fresh  upon  you.  I  have  said,  and  I  will 
repeat  it,  I  do  not  weary  in  repeating-  it  because  it 
is  such  a  lesson.  I  cannot  live  on  the  sunlight  of 
yesterday.  I  cannot  live  on  the  sunlight  of  an  hour 
ag-o.  I  must  have  the  sunlig-ht  fresh  ever}^  moment. 
And  just  so  this  shining-  of  God  into  our  hearts  must 
be  the  livings  unceasing^  divine  shining-  of  God 
Himself.  Therefore,  if  the  believer  wants  to  be  a 
worker  for  God,  wants  to  carry  the  treasure,  in  ever 
fresh  power,  his  one  desire  must  be,  to  abide  every 
moment,  in  the  full  light  of  God's  love  and  God's 
presence.  Young  man  and  3'oung  woman,  students 
of  this  Bible  Institute,  I  pray  you  remember,  a  man 
has  as  much  real  power  for  eternity  as  he  has  of 
God  shining  into  his  heart.  And  while  I  pray  you 
to  be  faithful  in  your  study  and  use  your  time  well, 
and  while  I  would  urge  you  use  every  opportunity 
for  getting  acquainted  with  that  precious  word,  3-et 
I  say,  first  and  last,  everj'thing  depends  upon  a 
man  living  in  the  light  of  God's  presence,  in  the 
light  of  God's  love,  and  waiting  until  he  has  the 
heavenly  treasure  in  his  heart,  God  shining  there 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in  the 
face  of  Jesus  Christ.  May  every  act  of  faith  in 
Christ  lead  you  up  to  God,  and  stir  you  to  wait  upon 
the  Everlasting  God,  to  reveal  Himself  more  fully. 
Let  there  be  a  holy  hunger  and  thirst  of  the  heart 
after  God  and  after  a  life  like  that  of  Christ's,  living 
every  hour  in  fellowship  with  the  Father,  and  in 
dependence  upon  Him.     Oh !  what  a  blessed  work 


164  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

the  work  of  the  ministry.  What  a  blessed  work, 
proclaiming-  the  salvation  of  Jesus  Christ.  The 
humblest  teacher  or  Bible  reader  can  go  to  others, 
carrying  not  only  the  Bible,  but  the  very  light  of 
God,  shining  into  him  and  out  of  him.  A  lamp  is 
not  made  to  light,  but  to  carry  the  light,  and  I  carry 
the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the  glory  of  God  in 
my  heart;  carry  Jesus  Christ  Himself;  carry  the 
glory  of  God.  Dear  brother,  the  most  precious 
thing-  you  have  in  your  heart,  and  the  most  blessed 
thing-  you  can  desire  is  to  have  God  fill  that  heart, 
a  heavenly  treasure  in  an  earthen  vessel. 

2.  Why  is  it  that  so  many  believers,  and  so  many 
workers,  and  so  many  ministers,  enjoy  so  little  of 
this  g-lory  of  the  heavenly  treasure  ?  The  answer 
is  simply,  because  they  are  all  looking  at  the 
earthly  treasure  in  a  wrong  way.  Many  ministers 
and  Christians  are  always  saying,  I  am  so  weak,  I 
am  so  feeble,  and  my  thoughts  are  so  poor,  and  my 
experience  is  so  wretched,  and  they  do  not  under- 
stand why  God  puts  the  treasure  in  the  earthen  ves- 
sel. They  have  not  accepted  their  position,  as  an 
earthen  vessel.  The  more  conscious  I  am  of  the 
utter  valuelessness  of  the  earthen  vessel,  the  more 
I  can  rejoice  in  the  glory  of  the  treasure.  Here  on 
earth  people  generally  seek  to  have  some  proportion 
between  the  treasure  and  the  vessel  in  which  it  is 
kept.  Take  the  richest  people  in  Chicago,  whose 
wives  have  received  from  husbands  the  most  beau- 
tiful diamonds  and  jewelry,  we  will  find  them  all  in 
beautiful  caskets,  elegantly  polished  and  made  most 
expensively.     Some  inlaid  with   gold,  some  all  of 


THK  HEAVENLY  TREASURE.  165 

gold.  We  always  expect  some  proportion  between 
the  treasure  and  the  vessel,  and  people  think,  ac- 
cording to  the  beauty  of  the  vessel  will  be  the 
beauty  of  the  treasure.  God  does  the  very  opposite, 
and  that  is  why  Paul  says  in  our  text,  how  he  was 
persecuted  and  had  to  suffer.  It  was  all  well;  he 
knew  he  was  an  earthen  vessel  with  a  heavenly 
treasure.  The  more  he  felt  the  insignificance  of 
the  earthen  vessel,  the  more  he  rejoiced  in  the 
heavenly  treasure.  When  at  Johannesburg,  I  was 
shown  over  a  gold  mine.  Coming  out  from  the 
door  of  the  furnace  room  we  met  a  man  carrying 
something  in  a  plain  iron  vessel.  When  asked,  by 
the  manager,  to  lift  the  cover,  we  saw  gold  to  the 
value  of  $1,000  being  brought  in  to  the  furnace. 
He  had  that  lump  of  gold  in  a  common  iron  vessel 
that  you  could  get  for  a  half  a  dollar.  There  was 
a  very  precious  treasure  in  a  very  common  vessel. 
God  wants  us  to  realize  that.  His  plan  and  His 
delight  is  to  put  the  heavenly  treasure  into  an 
earthen  vessel.     Let  us  be  content  with  that. 

Every  one  of  us  has  often  experienced  that,  and 
it  has  cast  us  down.  You  want  to  preach,  but  feel 
unable  to  do  as  you  would  wish.  You  have  not  the 
warmth  and  fullness  you  like  to  have.  You  are 
cast  down  because  you  look  in  the  earthen  vessel. 
Your  whole  thought  should  be:  Let  the  heavenly 
treasure  be  magnified.  If  you  are  full  of  that,  God 
will  help  you  to  praise  Him,  and  your  whole  heart 
will  be  ever  set  on  one  thing — the  hearenly  treasure. 
God  will  honor  it,  and  all  the  time  and  strength 
that  you  have  will  be  saved  for  the  one  blessed  work 


166  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

of  praising"  God  and  trusting-  Him  and  waiting-  upon 
Him.  We  have  a  heavenly  treasure  in  an  earthen 
vessel.  Beloved  workers,  if  I  could  rouse  your 
hearts  by  the  Holy  Spirit  to  consider  your  position. 
Listen,  while  I  tell  you.  God  in  heaven  has  a 
treasure.  Its  worth  passes  all  thought,  and  that 
treasure  is  His  beloved  Son.  In  Him  it  hath  pleased 
the  Father  that  all  the  fullness  should  dwell.  In 
Him  are  hidden  all  the  riches  of  the  wisdom  and  of 
the  knowledge  of  God.  Christ  is  God's  treasure, 
and  God's  delight,  and  the  storehouse  of  all  God's 
riches.  God  had  that  treasure  in  heaven,  but  sent 
it  down  to  earth,  and  in  the  Babe  of  Bethlehem.  In 
that  Jesus  who  had  not  a  place  to  lay  His  head;  in 
that  Jesus  as  an  earthen  vessel,  there  was  that 
heavenly  treasure  of  God.  The  Jesus  that  went 
down  into  the  grave,  in  that  broken  earthen  vessel, 
was  the  treasure  of  God.  He  lifted  Him  up  to  the 
glory,  and  then  the  Holy  Spirit  came  down  to  bring 
that  heavenly  treasure  into  the  hearts  of  men.  And 
the  treasure  in  heaven,  that  God  delights  in,  can  be 
a  treasure  in  your  heart,  that  you  can  delight  in. 
Do  let  ever}^  worker  take  time  to  study  this.  May 
God  show  His  people,  show  me,  the  heavenly  treas- 
ure that  I  carry  about.  The  treasure  of  God's 
heart  is  the  treasure  of  my  heart.  The  glory  of 
God  shines  in  the  face  of  His  beloved  Son,  and 
though  you  are  an  earthen  vessel,  your  joy,  your 
confidence  and  your  power  may  be  unfailing.  In 
the  earthen  vessel  we  have  the  heavenly  treasure. 

3.     There   is    another    point  I  mentioned.     We 
want  to  speak  about  the  abiding  difference  between 


THE  HEAVENLY  TKEASUPE-         167 

the  two.  Some  people  would  think:  Yes,  at  the  be- 
g-inning-  of  the  Christian  life,  a  man  will  feel  that 
very  clearly.  It  is  a  very  earthen  vessel  with  a 
heavenly  treasure  in  it.  But  when  a  man  has  been 
living-  a  spiritual  life,  living  in  fellowship  with  God 
for  years,  should  he  still  feel  he  is  just  an  earthen 
vessel?  When  a  man  has  become  humble  and 
Christ-like,  v/ill  he  then  still  be  an  earthen  vessel? 
Yes,  beloved.  Paul  had  been  for  years  in  the  rich 
experience  of  God's  grace,  and  yet  he  speaks  of 
himself  as  an  earthen  vessel.  And  he  would  re- 
main one  until  the  end,  and  why  ?  The  reason  is 
given  in  our  text,  "That  the  excellency  of  the  power 
may  be  of  God."  We  are,  by  nature,  so  full  of 
pride  and  self  in  the  most  spiritual  believer  there  is 
always  dang-er  of  self-exaltation.  Remember,  in  2 
Cor.  12,  Paul  writes,  "Lest  I  should  be  exalted  by 
the  revelations  I  had  received,  God  sent  a  thorn  in 
the  flesh  to  humble  me,"  and  you  know  how  Christ 
taug-ht  him  that  when  he  was  weak  he  would  be 
strongest,  because  Christ's  power  would  rest  upon 
his  weakness.  And  even  so  God  comes  to  us.  We 
are  ever  in  danger  of  beginning  to  think  that  we 
are  something;  that  God  is  putting  this  heavenly 
treasure,  ever  more  abundantly,  in  us.  Or  when  we 
begin  to  think  that  God  uses  us  todispense  to  others 
again  the  heavenly  treasure,  and  makes  us  a  bless- 
ing to  others,  there  is  danger  of  our  forgetting 
what  we  are;  and  so  God  says  it  shall  be  forever  a 
heavenly  treasure  in  a  mere  earthen  vessel.  I  have 
pressed  you  to  remember  and  study  what  the  treas- 
ure is,  for  it  is  very  heavenly.     I  now  press  you  to 


168  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

study  the  other  side;  no  matter  how  many  you  have 
broug-ht  to  Christ,  the  vessel  is  still  earthen.  You 
are  nothing.  Oh !  if  you  once  beg-in  to  understand 
it,  you  will  not  only  be  content  to  accept  the  posi- 
tion, but  rejoice  in  it.  In  reg-ard  to  this  there  may 
be  three  states  of  mind.  The  one  is  when  a  man 
does  not  want  to  be  an  earthen  vessel.  He  longs  to 
be  something  better,  to  beautify  the  vessel  by  cul- 
ture and  study.  He  does  not  want  to  be  an  earthen 
vessel  and  he  is  unwearied  in  the  effort  to  improve 
the  earthen  vessel. 

It  is  a  step  in  advance  when  a  man  begins  to  con- 
sent to  be  an  earthen  vessel.  He  begins  to  feel  he 
cannot  be  otherwise,  and  tries  to  submit  to  it.  He 
bears  it  as  a  humiliation  but  does  not  rejoice  in  it. 

3rd  step.  He  begins  to  delight  in  being  an  earth- 
en vessel.  He  sees  why  it  should  be  so,  and  ap- 
proves of  it.     He  counts  it  his  highest  blessedness. 

Paul  did  not  get  to  the  position  we  referred  to,  in 
12th  chapter  of  2  Cor.  at  once.  When  the  Lord  sent 
that  messenger  of  Satan  to  buffet  him  he  said,  three 
times,  "Lord,  do  take  it  away."  The  Lord  came  to 
Paul  and  said,  You  do  not  know  that  the  messenger 
of  Satan  is  your  greatest  blessing.  Why,  Lord? 
Because  he  will  teach  you  to  be  absolutely  depend- 
ent upon  Me  every  moment.  Paul  got  a  sight  of  it; 
he  says,  "I  will  glory,  will  rejoice  in  my  infirmities, 
in  the  weakness  of  the  earthen  vessel."  That  is  a 
higher  attainment,  not  only  to  endure  but  to  rejoice 
in  being  an  earthen  vessel.  Remember,  no  matter 
how  full  God  may  fill  your  heart  with  His  salvation, 
the  consciousness  will  always  have  to  grow  deeper, 


THE    III'.'vVKNLY   TKP:ASUKK.  169 

I  am  an  earthen  vessel.  That  is  why  Paul  says,  in 
the  same  chapter,  "In  nothing  am  I  behind  the 
chief  est  of  the  Apostles,  though  I  am  nothing.  God 
made  the  creature  orig-inally  to  be  a  vessel,  in  which 
to  show  forth  His  divine  glory.  This  is  your  high- 
est honor,  to  be  a  vessel  to  carry  the  power  and 
light  of  God.  That  is  what  angels  were  created 
for,  to  be  vessels  in  which  the  glory  of  God  could 
be  shown  forth.  That  is  what  the  child  of  God 
should  be  content  to  be,  a  vessel,  empty,  low  and 
broken,  if  need  be,  to  be  filled  with  Christ,  the 
treasure  of  God. 

My  last  thought.  The  abiding  union  between 
the  two;  the  living  union.  I  said  there  is  an  abid- 
ing difference  to  the  end.  But  remember,  also, 
there  is  a  living  union.  There  was  no  living  union 
between  that  mass  of  gold  away  in  Johannesburg,  I 
spoke  of,  and  that  iron  dish.  The  two  were  sepa- 
rate. But  the  treasure  of  God  enters  into  a  man; 
though  I  remain  an  earthen  vessel,  the  heavenly 
treasure  becomes  mine  in  such  a  way  that  it  enters 
my  life  and  becomes  myself.  All  the  life  of  God, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  of  God,  and  the  Holy  love  of 
God  and  Holy  Son  of  God,  and  the  Holy  glory  of  God, 
they  all,  all  pass  down  into  my  very  being  in  such 
an  infinite,  divine  reality,  that  they  are  my  very  own 
and  they  make  up  myself.  God  teaches  me  a  double 
lesson.  First  of  all,  to  understand  the  everlasting 
difference,  that  I  as  a  creature,  ever  am  nothing  but 
a  vessel.  If  I  begin  to  know  the  glory  of  God  I 
don't  want  to  be  anything  else;  I  become  jealous  of 
the  honor  and  glory  of  God  and  my  highest  desire  is 


170  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

to  gfet  lower  and  deeper  down  that  God  may  be  all. 
But  with  this  abiding  diiference  there  comes  what 
appears  a  contradiction,  and  yet  is  a  blessed  reality. 
I  know  that  the  treasure  is  not  in  me  and  that  all 
my  being"  is  only  emptiness  that  holds  it;  yet  this 
living  treasure  becomes  my  very  self.  This  living 
treasure  fills  me  and  becomes  inseparably  one  with 
me;  for  my  life  and  for  my  work.  The  heavenly 
treasure  is  in  the  earthen  vessel.  What  is  the  ob- 
ject? The  object  is  this,  that  the  excellency  of  the 
power  may  be  of  God.  Yes,  that  is  why  God  has 
put  the  heavenly  treasure  in  the  earthen  vessel,  that 
His  beloved  servants  may  learn  to  be  filled  with  the 
thought  that  the  power  is  of  God  alone.  Let  my 
one  aim  be  to  be  nothing.  No  being  can  tell  how 
God  will  give  the  heavenly  treasure  into  the  heart 
that  is  thoroughly  empty. 

Dear  friends,  we  sum  it  all  up  in  two  thoughts. 
The  one:  Beloved  child  of  God  be  very  humble  and 
get  very  low  down.  The  other:  Beloved  child  of 
God,  be  very  trustful  and  get  very  high  up.  1  have 
said  it  more  than  once,  be  very  humble.  Young 
men  and  young  women  who  are  studying,  I  pray 
you,  by  the  mercies  of  God,  whatever  you  study  do 
not  forget  to  study  humility.  Some  one  has  said, 
pray  to  be  delivered  from  every  vestige  of  pride,  as 
spirits  in  torment  would  pray  if  they  had  any  hope 
of  being  delivered.  Pray  to  be  delivered  from 
every  secret  root  of  anything  like  pride.  Pray  to 
be  brought  down  to  the  dust  before  your  God.  Take 
time  to  get  low  before  God.  God  giveth  grace  to 
the  humble.     If  you  want  to  get  the  heavenly  treas- 


THE  HEAVENLY  TKEASUKE.         171 

ure,  g-et  low.  A  vessel  must  be  empty,  clean  and 
lowl}'.  Let  us  all  be  willing-  to  say,  "Lord,  deepen 
in  my  soul  the  conviction  of  my  utter  nothing-ness, 
and  let  me  walk  in  holy  fear  and  trembling,"  and 
let  it  be  one  desire  of  my  heart  to  g-et  low  enough 
before  God,  that  God  may  fill  me.  The  other 
thought:  Be  very  trustful  and  rise  high  in  your  ex- 
pectation. I  bring  you  this  message.  You  want  to 
be  workers.  I  might  have  spoken  about  the  love  we 
need  for  souls,  and  the  glory  of  God  in  our  work, 
and  about  prayer  in  work;  but  here  is  the  chief 
thing.  Christian  worker,  be  very  trustful.  God  has 
a  treasure,  His  beloved  Son.  God  hath  entrusted 
you  who  are  believers  with  this  treasure.  It  is  in 
your  heart.  You  can  hide  it,  you  can  hinder  it,  or, 
you  can  open  your  being  very  wide  to  be  filled  with 
it.  Oh  do  believe  in  the  glory  of  that  treasure,  in 
the  power  of  that  treasure,  in  the  heavenly  joy  of 
that  treasure,  in  its  unutterable  riches.  It  is  God 
shining  into  you,  His  sunshine.  His  love,  God  shin- 
ing His  Spirit,  God  shining  His  love  into  your  very 
heart;  begin  to  open  your  heart  very  wide,  and  so, 
every  moment  of  the  day,  let  the  treasure  come  in. 
Every  moment  of  the  day  let  God  shine  into  your 
heart  the  glory  of  His  Son,  and  believe  you  will  be 
able  to  say  with  Paul,  We  have  this  treasure.  Let 
us  say  to-day,  I  have  this  treasure,  this  divine  treas- 
ure, and  I  am  going  to  ask  my  God  to  reveal  it  to 
me.  I  walk  tremblingly  at  the  thought,  I  carry 
the  heavenly  treasure.  If  you  had  a  diamond  of 
twenty  thousand  dollars  how  carefully  you  would 
keep  it.     Believers,  don't  be  so  occupied  with  your 


172  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

work  for  Christ,  and  study,  as  to  forgfet  the  chief 
thing",  I  have  the  heavenly  treasure.  Let  me  walk 
carefully  and  watchfully,  believing-  God  alone  will 
keep  shining  all  the  time.  May  every  heart  here 
know  what  it  is;  every  hour,  every  moment,  God 
shines  into  me  the  light  of  the  knowledge  of  the 
glory  of  God  in  the  face  of  Christ. 

Moment  by  moment  I'm  kept  in  His  love, 
Moment  by  moment  I've  life  from  above. 

God  shines  it  and  keeps  it  shining  as  He  does  the 
sunlight. 


WILLING   AND   DOING.  173 


TRUllHno  an&  Doino. 


The  words  of  my  text,  this  evening,  you  find  in 
Romans  and  Philippians.  Romans,  the  seventh 
chapter,  the  second  half  of  the  eig-hteenth  verse: 
"For  to  will  is  present  with  me,  but  how  to  perform 
that  which  is  g"ood,  I  know  not."  And  then  Phil- 
ippians, the  second  chapter  and  the  twelfth  verse, 
the  second  half,  and  the  thirteenth:  "Work  out  your 
own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling-,  for  it  is  God 
which  worketh  in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His 
g-ood  pleasure."  You  see  how  these  two  texts  ap- 
pear to  contradict  one  another.  The  first  text  g-ives 
us  the  experience  of  a  man  who  says,  "To  will  is 
present  with  me."  My  will  is  rig-ht;  I  am  willing- 
to  do  God's  will;  I  am  willing-  to  do  what  is  g-ood. 
"But,"  he  says,  "I  have  not  the  power.  How  to  per- 
form I  find  not."  It  is  a  man  with  whom  there  is  a 
g-reat  gulf  between  willing  and  doing.  Just  the 
state  of  a  great  many  Christians.  They  will  what 
is  good,  and  somehow  they  have  not  the  strength  to 


174  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

perform.  They  cannot  understand  it  themselves, 
and  others  cannot  understand  it,  and  yet  it  is  exactly 
as  you  have  it  here.  "To  will  is  present  with  me, 
but  how  to  perform  I  find  not."  In  the  second  text 
you  have  the  very  opposite.  There  Paul  says, 
"Work  out  your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trem- 
bling-, for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you,  both  to 
will  and  to  do  according-  to  His  good  pleasure." 
Here  is  a  man  in  whom  Paul  says  that  God  does 
both  the  thing-s,  not  only  the  willing-  but  the  doing-, 
also.  Now  in  these  two  texts  we  have  just  the  ex- 
act description  of  the  two  stag-es  of  the  Christian 
life  that  I  have  been  speaking  about  so  repeatedly. 
You  know  when  we  began,  last  Tuesday,  to  speak 
about  the  carnal  and  spiritual,  I  pointed  out  that 
there  are  two  styles  of  Christian  living.  The  one 
is  that  of  the  carnal  Christian,  who  tries  to  be  good 
but  can't  succeed.  He  always  fails;  temper  and 
strife  and  sin  get  the  better  of  him.  The  other  is 
the  spiritual  Christian,  who  gets  the  victory.  Just 
so  here.  There  are  people  who  are  always  com- 
plaining. Oh,  I  do  desire  to  please  God;  it  is  my 
will  and  purpose  to  do  His  will,  but  I  can't  do  it. 
They  have  not  the  strength.  But  there  are  other 
Christians,  to  whom  Paul's  words  to  the  Philippians 
come  as  a  reality.  God  works,  not  only  to  will,  but 
He  also  works  to  do  in  them.  Let  us  try  to  find  out 
what  the  difference  is  between  these  two  states; 
what  the  reason  is  that  so  many  continue  in  the  for- 
mer state;  what  the  way  is  to  get  out  of  it  into  the 
second.  Dear  friends,  don't  you  see  clearly  how 
much  better  the  second  life   is  than  the  first?    A 


\VIi,UNG   AND   DOING.  175 

man  always  willing-  but  not  succeeding-  in  doing-,  or 
a  man  both  willing-  and  doing- — which  is  best? 
Every  heart  can  give  the  answer.  Let  every  heart 
pray,  God  reveal  to  me  how  I  can  get  into  this 
blessed  life,  willing  and  doing,  both. 

Now,  in  speaking  about  this  first  stage,  I  just 
want  to  remind  you  of  the  place  that  the  teaching 
in  chapter  seven  has  in  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans. 
This  morning  we  had  the  sixth  chapter  and  we  saw 
that  Paul  says  there,  to  every  believer,  You  are 
dead  in  Christ,  you  are  alive  in  Christ,  you  must  be- 
lieve it  and  reckon  upon  it  and  then  come  and  pre- 
sent yourself  to  God.  But  that  is  only  the  begin- 
ning of  the  work  of  sanciification.  He  goes  on  in 
the  end  of  the  chapter  to  tell  them,  Now  begin  at 
once  and  work  that  out;  live  for  righteousness,  as 
servants  of  righteousness,  obeying  God  in  every- 
thing. In  the  seventh  chapter  he  tells  them  there 
is  something  more.  After  a  man  begins  to  try  and 
obey  God  and  live  as  God's  servant  in  the  perform- 
ance of  righteousness,  he  comes  to  an  unexpected 
experience.  He  finds  that  he  fails,  and  so  Paul,  in 
the  beginning  of  the  seventh  chapter,  says  to  him, 
I  have  to  tell  3'ou  of  something  more  and  something 
better:  3-ou  are  not  only  dead  to  sin — everybody  can 
understand  that  that  ought  to  be — but  you  are 
actually  dead  to  the  law.  The  Christian  answers, 
The  law  is  good  and  holy,  how  can  I  be  dead  to  the 
law?  Paul  tells  him  the  law  is  indeed  good  and 
spiritual;  but  the  law  is  unfitted  for  3'our  state,  be- 
cause you  are  sinful  by  nature  and  you  cannot  keep 
the  law,  and  so  the  law  just  kills  you.       Your  mis- 


176  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

take  in  the  Christian  life,  after  your  conversion,  is 
this:  You  try  to  keep  the  law  and  you  always  fail. 
The  law  was  g-iven  by  God,  at  Sinai,  to  stir  men  up 
to  their  highest  activity,  and  urg-e  them  to  do  their 
very  best,  that  they  mig-ht  learn  that  they  must  fail, 
and  that  they  were  utterly  impotent.  That  was  the 
work  of  the  law—to  convince  men  of  their  sinfulness. 
The  believer,  when  he  thinks,  I  am  a  reg-enerate 
man,  I  must  try  and  keep  the  law,  always  fails,  be- 
cause the  law  always  calls  you  to  self-effort;  it  stirs 
up  self,  and  when  self  does  its  best  it  can  do  noth- 
ing*. And  so  Paul,  here  in  the  seventh  chapter, 
tells  us,  you  are  not  only  dead  to  sin,  as  I  told  you 
in  the  sixth  chapter,  but  you  are  actually  dead  to  the 
law.  He  then  g"oes  on  to  teach  us  more  about  this. 
I  want  you,  as  you  study  the  Kpistle  carefully,  to 
note  the  teaching"  of  the  second  half  of  the  seventh 
chapter.  In  the  first  division  of  the  Epistle  that  I 
spoke  of  this  morning- — chapters  1:18  to  5:11 — Paul 
had  spoken  about  sins,  sins  in  the  plural,  sinful 
acts,  as  transg"ressions,  and  justification  had  to  do 
with  them.  But  from  the  fifth  chapter  and  the 
twelfth  verse  he  does  not  talk  any  more  about  sins 
in  the  plural,  but  all  about  sin,  s-i-n.  Why?  In  the 
first  half  of  the  Epistle,  when  he  was  talking  about 
justification,  there  he  had  to  speak  about  sinful 
deeds,  but  here  in  the  second  half  he  is  about  to 
speak  of  the  power  of  sin  that  works  in  us,  and  how 
that  power  is  to  be  conquered.  That  is  the  reason 
why,  in  the  second  half  of  the  seventh  chapter,  we 
enter  on  a  new  discussion  of  the  subject  of  sin.  The 
Epistle  would  have  been  terribly  discouraging  if  we 


WILLING    AND    DOING.  177 

had  not  had  this  seventh  chapter.  Some  people  are 
troubled  about  it,  but  I  thank  God  exceedingly  for 
it.  What  would  it  have  helped  me  if  Paul  had,  in 
the  first  chapter,  told  me  all  about  sin,  the  sins  of 
the  heathen  and  the  sins  of  the  Jews,  and  pardon 
and  justification  in  the  blood  of  Christ,  dying-  for  our 
sins,  but  had  not  told  me  about  the  power  of  sin  in 
my  own  life?  What  would  it  have  helped  me  if 
Paul  had  only  told  me  about  the  sins  of  the  uncon- 
verted man?  As  a  believer,  I  want  to  know  how 
about  the  sin  of  the  converted  man,  sin  in  the  re- 
g-enerate  man.  And  therefore  the  second  half  of 
Romans,  seven,  is  indispensable  to  a  rig-ht  knowl- 
edg-e  of  the  will  of  God,  it  teaches  us  the  precious 
lesson  of  our  impotence,  as  the  way  to  full  deliver- 
ance. I  spoke,  in  one  of  the  addresses,  about  there 
being-  needed  two  convictions  of  sin;  a  conviction  of 
sin  for  the  unconverted  man  to  bring-  him  to  re- 
pentance and  faith,  and  for  the  believer  a  convic- 
tion of  sin  and  sinfulness  to  prepare  him  for  full 
salvation.  That  is  the  apostle's  teaching"  here  in 
the  second  half  of  the  seventh  chapter.  Dear 
friends,  if  you  read  it  carefully,  you  will  see  that 
Paul  is  speaking-  there  about  the  Christian  who  is  a 
reg-enerate  man,  who  delig-hts  in  the  law  of  God, 
longs  to  do  what  is  right  and  good,  and  yet  is  not 
able.  And  why  not?  The  answer  is,  simply  be- 
cause he  has  not  yielded  to  the  Holy  Spirit  to  work 
allinhim.  Notice  in  chapter  seven,  from  the  seventh 
verse,  the  name  of  Christ  is  not  once  mentioned 
except  down  at  the  very  verse  before  the  last,  "I 
thank  God  through  Jesus  Christ  our  Lord."       No- 


178  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

tice,  the  Holj  Spirit  is  not  mentioned.  Notice,  the 
man  is  speaking"  always  about  the  law.  The  word 
law  occurs  from  twenty  to  thirty  times.  The  man 
is  always  speaking  about  I  and  me.  It  is  a  regen- 
erate man,  doing  his  very  best  to  keep  the  law  of 
God,  but  he  fails  utterly.  That  is  just  the  life  of 
the  multitude  of  believers.  They  are  sometimes 
doing  their  very  best,  trying  hard,  praying  and  cry- 
ing to  God,  Lord  help  me!  but  it  does  not  help. 
What  a  change  comes  in  the  eighth  chapter.  Paul 
begins  in  the  second  verse,  the  law,  the  dominion  of 
the  Spirit,  of  the  life  in  Christ  has  set  me  free  from 
the  dominion  of  sin  and  death.  That  is  it.  A  new 
power  comes  in.  The  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  to 
enable  a  man,  not  only  to  will,  but  to  do  the  will  of 
God.  That  is  the  transition  from  the  first  state  to 
the  second  state. 

This  second  state  you  find  described  in  Philippi- 
ans  second,  verses  twelve  and  thirteen.  "Work  out 
your  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling  for  it  is 
God  which  worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do."  I 
remember  being  very  much  struck  by  hearing  a^^oung 
missionary  at  the  Cape,  when  he  was  preparing  to 
leave  the  congregation  from  which  we  were  sending 
him  out,  tell  of  something  that  had  comforted  him 
much.  I  think  it  was  in  a  life  of  David  Brainerd; 
he  had  read  that  when  he  had  resolved  to  go  to  the 
mission  field,  some  one  said,  Well,  you  are  very  will- 
ing to  go,  aren't  you?  Yes.  But  how  do  you  know 
that  you  will  succeed?  How  do  you  know  that  you 
will  be  able  to  hold  out  and  that  you  won't  turn 
back?      And  his  answer  was  this,  Well,    the   God 


WII.UNG   AND   DOING.  179 

who  has  given  the  will,  will  g"ive  the  power  to  per- 
form it.  He  works  to  will  and  to  do.  That  is  all 
we  need  to  have  in  the  Christian  life.  That  is 
what  I  want  to  speak  about  to-nig-ht,  that  the  same 
God  who  has  g^iven  the  power  to  will,  will  also  g'ive 
the  power  to  do,  so  that  a  Christian  need  not  always 
live  complaining-,  I  will,  I  will,  but  how  to  perform, 
I  do  not  find.  God  will  bring-  a  man  to  the  place 
where,  by  the  living-  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost,  he 
can  do  God's  will  and  obey  God's  command.  And 
that  is  the  life  we  want.  In  Romans,  seven,  we 
have,  as  we  said,  the  language  of  the  renewed  will. 
Some  people  think  that  it  refers  to  the  unregener- 
ate  will,  I  cannot  think  that,  the  language  is  far 
too  strong.  In  the  first  place,  why  should  he  intro- 
duce the  condition  of  the  unregenerate  man  between 
the  sixth  and  eighth  chapters,  where  he  is  entirely 
dealing  with  sanctification?  It  would  be  out  of 
place.  He  is  talking  about  sanctification  and  why 
should  he  put  in  this  passage  about  the  unregener- 
ate man?  I  cannot  think  it.  But  it  is  in  its  right 
place  if  he  comes  to  tell  me  what  is  of  far  more  in- 
terest to  me  than  the  state  of  the  unconverted  man, 
if  he  comes  to  tell  me  how  things  are  in  the  heart 
of  the  converted  man,  this  is  exactly  what  I  need  to 
know.  Therefore  I  take  my  text,  "to  will  is  present 
with  me,  but  to  perform  I  find  not,"  as  the 
language  of  the  regenerate  man,  and  I  want  to  give 
you  some  simple  lessons  which  I  think  these  words 
teach  us. 

And  the  first  lesson  is,  the  renewed  will   teaches 
me  the  power  of  regeneration.      That  God  changes 


180  THE   SPIRITUAL   I.IFE. 

the  heart  and  the  will  and  the  life  and  the  desire  of 
a  man.  He  turns  right  from  them,  and  the  man 
who  has  loved  sin,  who  has  not  loved  God's  will  and 
God's  law,  a  man  who  has  loved  himself  and  his 
own  will  and  done  it,  that  man  is  changed  entirely, 
and  he  begins  to  delight  in  the  will  of  God.  I  am 
going  to  speak  to  you  about  the  impotence  and  in- 
sufl&ciency  of  that  renewed  will  to-night.  But  be- 
fore I  do  that,  want  to  magnify  that  renewed  will 
as  the  gift  of  the  Everlasting  God,  and  I  want  to 
say  to  you,  Thank  God,  if  you  can  honestly  say, 
"Lord,  with  my  whole  heart  I  have  purposed  and 
sworn  to  do  that  will."  Never  mind  if  you  fail,  never 
mind  if  you  haven't  got  the  strength  to  do  it  yet^ 
but  hold  on  and  say  to  God,  "Lord,  I  delight  in  Thy 
will,  I  delight  to  do  it  and  I  want  to  do  it."  The  re- 
newed will  teaches  me  the  power  of  regeneration. 
You  find  men  trying  to  change  their  own  hearts, 
to  change  their  own  wills,  to  change  their  inclina- 
tions, but  they  have  found  that  they  could  not 
change  it.  But  God  changes  it.  I  have  read  the 
story  of  a  Christian  woman  losing  her  temper  week 
after  week,  and  going  to  her  bed-room  and  praying 
and  crying  to  God  for  deliverance,  and  telling  how 
she  did  it  for  years  and  no  deliverance  came.  The 
will  was  right,  it  has  been  so  with  many.  That 
was  evidence  that  God's  work  was  in  them,  that 
they  did  not  sit  down  with  the  thought,  '  'Well,  never 
mind,  there  is  no  great  harm."  But  they  never  get 
rest  in  it.  Their  will  was  set  upon  doing  the  will 
of  God,  though  they  utterly  failed  in  performing  it. 
And  therefore  I  say  to  you,  my   fellow   Christians, 


WII.I.ING   AND   DOING.  181 

tlioug-h  you  have  not  attained  yet  to  the  doitig-  of 
God's  will,  begin  and  hold  fast  that  and  say,  I  will 
what  God  wills.  Say  that.  In  affliction  say,  even 
though  your  heart  trembles  and  you  cannot  submit; 
though  you  cannot  bring  your  heart  to  do  what  you 
want  and  to  be  perfectly  submissive;  say,  "Lord,  I 
will  what  Thou  wiliest.  I  give  up  my  will  and  I 
choose  Thy  will,  though  my  heart  refuses  to  rest." 
Or,  with  regard  to  any  sin  that  is  troubling  you  and 
conquering  you,  say  it  to  God,  "Lord,  I  will  to  do 
what  Thou  hast  commanded."  This  is  my  first  les- 
son. The  renewed  will  in  my  text  teaches  me  the 
power  of  regeneration. 

But  it  teaches  me,  in  the  second  place,  the  impo- 
tence and  powerlessness  of  the  regenerate  man. 
Regeneration  gives  a  man  a  new  will,  but  the  re- 
generate man,  after  he  has  got  the  new  will,  is  an 
impotent  thing.  And  the  great  mischief  in  our 
churches  and  among  our  Christians  is  that  they 
don't  know  that.  People  think.  Well,  I  am  regen- 
erate and  I  have  the  grace  of  God  in  me  and  I  have 
got  somewhat  of  God's  Spirit  in  me  and  I  ought  to 
be  able  to  do  God's  will,  and  they  try  and  do  their 
very  best,  and  they  fail.  But  here  comes  now  the 
important  lesson  about  the  second  blessing  and  the 
higher  life,  or  the  spiritual  life,  or  whatever  name 
you  call  it  by,  that  God  comes  and  tells  the  regen- 
erate man,  *'My  son,  I  have  given  you  a  new  will, 
but  that  new  will,  alone,  cannot  help  you."  Many 
a  man  thinks.  If  I  were  only  fixed  and  firm  in  my 
will,  I  would  be  able  to  obey  God.  He  groans  and 
cries  to  God  about  it.       He  delights  in  the  law  of 


182  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

God  and  jet  he  cannot  do  what  he  wants  to  do. 
Does  that  not  teach  me  clearly  that  a  regenerate 
man  is  an  impotent  man?  Do  I  not  see  it  every  day 
of  my  life?  And  are  there  not  a  hundred  witnesses 
in  this  building,  to-night,  who  can  say  it  is  so? 
There  are  some  things  that  a  man  can't  do;  there 
are  some  things  that  he  can't  forsake;  when  you 
come  to  the  daily  temptations  of  the  inner  life,  the 
regenerate  man  is  an  impotent  man.  There  are 
men  who,  for  thirty  or  forty  years,  have  fought 
against  their  temper  and  never  conquered  it,  and 
they  have  admitted  it  with  grief.  There  are  men 
who  have  fought  for  thirty  or  forty  years  against 
self-will  and  unlovingness  and  they  have  never  con- 
quered it.  Why?  Because  the  regenerate  man  is 
an  impotent  man  as  long  as  he  tries,  in  virtue  of  his 
regeneration, to  serve  God. 

Then  comes  my  third  thought.  That  the  regen- 
erate man,  if  he  is  actually  to  do  God's  will,  needs  a 
new  blessing.  Needs  a  new  blessing.  Yes,  that  is 
the  great  truth  which  the  eighth  chapter  of  Romans 
teaches  us.  Paul,  in  the  seventh  chapter,  is  silent 
about  the  Spirit,  not  a  word  about  it.  All  about  the 
law  and  the  regenerate  man  who  is  under  the  law, 
still,  trying  to  obey  the  law.  But  then  he  comes  in 
the  eighth  chapter  and  says,  "Not  the  law,  the 
power  of  the  Spirit  of  life  in  Christ  hath  set  me 
free  from  that  law  which  took  me  captive  and 
which  prevented  my  doing  what  I  really  willed  to 
do."  He  says,  "The  Spirit  of  Christ  does  set  me 
free."  In  chapter  seven  I  have  a  man  who  is  a  cap- 
tive; in  chapter  eight,  a  man  who  has  been  set  at 


WILLING   AND   DOING.  183 

liberty  by  God's  Spirit.  He  goes  on  to  tell  me  that 
the  Spirit  of  Christ  enables  me  to  walk  after  the 
Spirit;  by  the  Spirit  I  can  mortify  the  deeds  of  the 
body,  so  that  I  do  not  do  any  longer  what  I  do  not 
want  to.  Oh,  the  blessedness  of  knowing"  there  is 
a  second  step!  That  second  step  need  not  be  long- 
after  conversion.  It  sometimes  comes  with  conver- 
sion, when  the  Holy  Spirit  comes  very  mightily 
down  upon  a  man  and  he  at  once  begins  to  will  and 
to  do.  But  in  the  church  as  it  is  now,  in  most 
cases  it  does  not  come  at  once,  and  therefore  we 
must  preach  to  you,  beloved  brethren,  that  there  is 
a  different  stage  from  that,  on  which  most  of  us  live. 
And  what  is  that  stage?  That  stage  is  when  the 
Holy  Spirit  comes  and  fills  the  heart  and  a  man  be- 
lieves, not  only  God  does  work  in  me  /o  ivill,  but 
God  will  work  in  me  to  do.  Oh,  the  difference  be- 
tween the  willing  and  doing.  Take  a  child.  You 
give  a  child  a  sum  in  arithmetic — a  little  boy  of  ten 
and  he  is  so  willing  and  he  does  work  so  hard,  and 
he  does  his  very  best.  The  will  is  not  wanting  but 
he  can't  do  it.  Ah,  that  is  just  the  will  of  most 
Christians;  3'ou  have  not  the  power — you  cannot  do 
it.  We  learn  here,  from  Paul,  in  chapter  seven, 
that  the  man  of  whom  he  speaks  hasn't  it.  But  I 
can  say  something  else.  Oh,  my  brother,  the  Holy 
Spirit  is  the  mighty  power  of  God  for  doing,  and  if 
you  will  come  and  begin  to  sa}'.  My  whole  life  must 
be  entirely  given  up  to  the  Spirit  of  God,  and  I 
must  allow  the  Spirit  of  God  to  take  the  place  that 
I,  with  my  own  strength,  have  been  trying  to  take. 
My  whole  life  lauat  be  one  of   waiting   upon  the 


184  THE   SPIRITLAI.   LIFE. 

Spirit  of  God  and  rejoicing-  in  Him.  Then  God  will 
g-ive,  not  only  to  will  but  to  do,  also.  Glory  to  God's 
name.  Let  us  depend  upon  it  and  believe  it  and  re- 
joice in  it.  "It  is  God  which  worketh  in  you  both 
to  will  and  to  do." 

You  ask  me,  perhaps,  why  has  God  arrang-ed 
it  so  that  there  are  to  be  two  separate  stagfes,  the 
willing-  and  the  doing-?  Wouldn't  it  have  been 
better  and  more  blessed  if  God,  when  He  g-ave  the 
will  had  g-iven  me  the  do  at  the  same  time?  Why 
did  not  God  give  it  to  that  man  in  Romans,  seven? 
There  is  a  divine  reason  for  it  and  that  reason  is 
this:  When  an  unconverted  man  comes  to  Christ 
and  God  asks  that  man,  Will  you  live  to  do  My  will? 
The  unconverted  man  cannot  answer  the  question, 
because  he  does  not  understand  what  God's  will  is. 
He  is  blind.  He  thinks  he  knows  what  God's  will 
is,  but  he  cannot,  in  his  unconverted  state,  know 
what  the  depth  and  purity  of  God's  will  is,  and  how 
the  will  of  God  reaches  to  the  inmost  being-.  A 
man,  at  conversion,  cannot  yet  give  a  fully  intelli- 
gent answer  to  the  question.  He  does  not  know 
what  it  means  when  he  says.  Lord,  I  will  do  all 
Thou  sayest.  Israel,  at  Mount  Sinai,  said,  "All 
that  the  Lord  hath  spoken,  we  will  do,"  but  they  did 
not  know  what  they  were  saying.  Just  so,  when  an 
unconverted  man  comes  to  conversion,  he  does  not 
know  what  the  will  of  God  is.  But  after  he  is  con- 
verted, then  God  gives  him  time,  a  year,  or  two 
years,  or  three  years,  and,  as  a  regenerate  man,  he 
begins  earnestly  to  try  and  do  God's  will.  As  a 
rule,  he  fails  utterly.       Then  God  comes  and  deals 


WILLING    AND    DOING.  185 

with  him  a  second  time,  and  He  says,  My  child,  I 
gave  you  a  new  will  to  love  My  will  and  you  thought 
you  were  able  to  do  it;  I  want  to  cure  you  now  en- 
tirely of  self  and  self-confidence;  I  have  allowed  you 
to  try  your  best  and  you  have  seen  how  you  have 
utterly  failed  in  the  doing  of  my  will.  Come  now, 
a  second  time,  and  let  me  give  you  a  new  blessing. 
And  if  he  asks,  Father,  what  is  this  blessing? 
Hast  Thou  not  given  me  the  Holy  Spirit?  God 
answers  Yes,  thou  art  a  temple  of  the  Spirit  and  the 
Spirit  is  in  thee,  but  thou  hast  never  understood 
what  it  is  to  have  thy  whole  being  entirely  filled 
with  the  Spirit.  Thou  hast  never  understood  what 
it  is,  all  the  day  and  every  day  to  be  entirely  de- 
pendent upon  the  Holy  Spirit.  Thou  hast  never 
understood  how  fully  and  entirely  I  want  thee,  in 
everj^thing,  to  glorify  Me.  Come,  my  child,  and  I 
will  have  a  second  transaction  with  thee,  and  if 
thou  wilt  come  and  transact  with  Me,  as  thou  didst 
at  conversion,  and  with  a  new  meaning  and  a  new 
depth  and  with  new  intensity  of  purpose,  will  yield 
thyself  to  Me,  come  and  say,  My  God,  I  have  begun 
to  see  what  is  wrong  and  how  I  have  failed.  I  now 
want  to  come  and  give  up  everything  to  Thee,  I 
want  to  give  up  self  to  Thee,  I  want  to  give  up  self- 
confidence  and  self-effort.  Then  God  will  give 
answer,  My  child,  if  thou  art  willing  to  go  down 
into  the  death  of  Jesus,  to  come  to  the  end  of  self,  I 
will  give  the  Holy  Spirit  fully  in  thee.  Jesus  had 
to  pass  through  the  two  stages.  He  was  born  the 
first  time  in  Bethlehem,  but  He  had  to  die.  He  had 
to  give  up  the  life  of  Bethlehem  and  He  was  born  a 


186  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

second  time  out  of  the  grave.  He  is  called  the  first 
born  from  the  dead,  he  was  born  from  the  grave  into 
a  new  life,  a  life  of  victor)^  His  first  life  was  a 
life  without  sin,  but  a  life  of  weakness  and  very 
little  power,  as  compared  with  His  life  on  the  throne. 
And  just  so  in  your  life,  there  can  be  these  two 
stages.  The  first  stage  created  in  you  a  willing- 
heart — brought  you  into  the  position  of  a  child  wish- 
ing to  do  God's  will.  My  child  may  wish  to  do  my 
will,  but  he  is  unable  to  do  it.  He  must  grow  up 
into  a  strong  man,  at  twenty-one  he  comes  of  age, 
and  then  he  can  do  it.  God  does  not  require  twenty- 
one  years  to  do  His  will,  and  He  sometimes  gives  it 
to  His  child  at  conversion.  But  when  the  church  is 
in  such  a  feeble  state  as  it  now  is,  you  find  men  liv- 
ing as  Christians  forty  or  fifty  years  without  it.  I 
come,  to-night,  to  plead  with  you  and  to  say,  God  is 
willing,  my  brother,  to  lift  you  out  of  the  lower  to 
the  higher  stage,  where  you  can  will  and  do^  both. 
Don't  you  understand  it  is  an  absolute  necessity? 
God  must  train  us  gradually,  and  God  wants  us  to 
come  to  a  right  sense  of  our  sinfulness  and  to  a 
right  sense  of  our  utter  helplessness;  when  He  has 
so  prepared  us,  He  will  make  true,  full  Christians 
of  us,  with  the  Holy  Spirit  dwelling  and  ruling  in 
us. 

This  bring"s  me  now  to  my  fourth  thought,  and 
that  is  the  question.  Wherein  consists  the  secret  of 
entering  into  this  second  blessing?  My  answer  is 
simply,  entire  dependence  upon  God.  Let  us  now 
look  at  the  text  in  Philippians,  "Work  out  your  own 
salvation,  for  it  is  God  which  worketh  in  you  to  will 


WILLING   AND   DOING.  187 

and  to  do."  Now  just  listen  a  moment.  Which  of 
these  thing-s  must  come  first?  "  ]]ork  out  your  own 
salvation,  for  it  is  God  that  ivorkcth  in  you.  Which 
of  the  two  must  come  first?  Of  course  God  works 
in  you.  Work  you  because  God  is  working-.  Work 
you  stands  g-rammatically  before  God  works,  but 
really  and  spiritually  it  comes  after.  Paul  saj's, 
God  works,  now  you  work.  And,  oh  friends,  what 
is  the  g-reat  reason  that  you  try  to  work  and  3'ou 
cannot,  that  you  will  and  cannot  perform?  Because 
you  do  not  believe  in  the  working-  of  God.  You 
trj'  in  your  own  strength  to  work.  You  take  one 
half  of  the  text,  "Work  out  your  own  salvation," 
and  you  try  hard  but  you  fail.  Why?  Because  you 
do  not  take  the  first  half— the  foundation— work  you 
because  God  is  working-  in  3'ou,  both  to  will  and  to 
do.  What  God  wants  is  to  bring  us  there  where  we 
let  Him  work.  That  is  what  we  had  yesterday 
about  Christ  bringing  us  to  God.  That  is  what  we 
had  this  morning  about  our,  when  we  are  alive  from 
the  dead,  at  once  coming  and  presenting  ourselves 
unto  God.  Don't  you  begin  to  see  that  God  must 
take  a  much  larger  and  higher  place  in  our  life.  If 
I  want,  not  only  to  will,  but  also  to  do,  then  the 
Holy  Spirit  must  teach  me  to  come  and  wait  upon 
God  with  a  dependence  and  with  a  helplessness  and 
with  a  patience  that  I  never  exercised  before.  I 
mus't  understand  that  every  da}^  of  m}'  life  God  must, 
directly  from  heaven,  by  the  operation  of  His  Holy 
Spirit,  Himself  do  the  working  in  me.  Do  you  see 
that?  Work  for  God  worlreth  in  you  to  will  and  to 
do.       Ah,  it  is  no  wonder  that  we  will  so  much  and 


188  THE   SPIRITUAL   UFE- 

do  SO  little  in  the  spiritual  life,  and  that  our  life  is 
so  full  of  failure.  God  has  not  the  place  that  God 
must  have.  It  is  not  wrong"  that  the  whole  heart  of 
the  sinner  is  occupied  with  Christ,  for  Christ  wants 
to  g-et  hold  of  him  and  to  win  his  love  and  to  take 
him  to  Himself.  But,  when  once  I  am  converted 
and  in  the  hands  of  Christ,  Christ  wants  to  bring- 
me  on  a  step  and  to  bring-  me  to  God  that  I  may  re- 
ceive from  God  everything-  just  as  Christ  did  Him- 
self. Christ's  whole  life — we  saw  that  yesterday 
morning — was  dependence,  dependence,  dependence 
upon  God  and  nothing-  else.  Every  morning-  and 
every  nig-ht,  from  Bethlehem  to  Calvary,  dependence 
upon  God.  And  if  Christ  is  living-  in  me,  and  if  my 
life  is  to  be  the  life  of  Christ,  and  if  my  life  is  to  be 
a  life  of  power  and  of  fruit  and  of  work,  I  must  let 
God  work  both  to  will  and  to  do  of  His  g-ood  plea- 
sure. Dear  Christian  friends,  I  ask  myself,  some- 
times, "Is  not  the  reason  of  all  the  weakness  in  the 
church  of  Christ  just  this:  peopled©  not  know  their 
God?"  In  the  prophet  Daniel  we  read  that  people 
who  know  their  God  shall  be  strong-  and  do  exploits. 
You  must  know  your  God.  Your  God  is  the  great 
power  in  the  universe  that  works  everything-.  He 
keeps  the  sun  shining.  He  keeps  every  little  grass 
green.  It  is  God  that  clothes  the  lilies  with  their 
beauty.  How  does  He  do  it?  Not  from  without, 
not  from  above,  away  at  a  distance,  but  He  gives 
His  life  into  the  beautiful  lily  as  it  grows.  God  is 
everywhere  present  in  nature;  and  God  wants  to  be 
much  more  distinctly  and  really,  practically  present 
in  the  heart  of  the  believer.     But  we  do  not  know  it 


WILLING   AND   DOING.  18'> 

and  wc  do  not  think  about  it.  Why?  It  is  because 
we  do  not  listen  to  His  word.  God  worketh  in  you, 
and  we  do  not  let  His  Spirit  teach  us  what  God 
would  do  for  us.  Therefore,  the  question  comes  to 
us  with  unutterable  solemnity,  Does  not  the  renewed 
will  call  us,  call  all  of  us,  to  a  life  of  more  dependence 
on  God?  Dear  friends,  if  we  will  consent  to  live  a 
life  of  nothing-ness,  waiting-  upon  the  living-  God, 
He  will  work  both  to  will  and  to  do  according-  to  His 
good  pleasure. 

And  now  my  last  thoug-ht:  How  to  enter  into  this 
blessing.  My  first  thought  was,  the  renewed  will 
proves  the  power  of  regeneration;  it  proves  the  im- 
potence of  the  regenerate  man  and  it  proves  the  need 
of  something  new,  a  second  blessing.  And  now  the 
last  thought:  How  are  we  to  enter  upon  the  bless- 
ing? Is  there  for  us  a  prospect  of  real  obedience? 
The  man  in  Romans  seven  had  no  real  obedience. 
His  heart  was  right,  he  was  honest,  but  he  failed. 
It  was  just  the  condition  of  the  disciples  before 
Pentecost.  You  know  their  hearts  were  right. 
Peter's  heart  was  right  when  he  said,  "Lord,  I  will 
go  to  prison  and  to  death  with  Thee."  He  loved 
Jesus,  he  was  honest,  and  that  is  why  Christ  did  not 
reject  him.  He  was  honest  but  impotent,  full  of 
self-confidence  and  he  deceived  himself.  There  was 
the  will,  but  he  could  not  perform.  Look  at  Geth- 
semane.  Christ  said  of  His  disciples  when  He  found 
them  sleeping,  "The  spirit  is  willing,  but  the  flesh 
is  weak."  A  word  of  the  deepest  spiritual  sig- 
nificance. "My  beloved  disciples,  there  is  in  you  a 
spirit  that  is  willing.     You  love  Me   and   want  to 


190  THE   SPIKITUAI.   LIFE. 

watch  with  Me,  but  the  flesh  is  too  strong",  and  you 
can't  do  it.  The  power  of  the  spirit  has  not  yet  con- 
quered the  power  of  the  flesh."  But  when  the  Holy 
Ghost  came  at  Pentecost,  the  power  of  the  Spirit 
conquered  the  flesh,  and  they  were  able  to  do  any- 
thing, even  though  they  had  to  suffer  for  Jesus. 
Dear  friends,  how  can  we  enter  into  this  blessing? 
There  is  one  step.  One  thing  is  needful,  and  what 
is  that?  Giving  up  our  life  to  God.  Can  we  do  it 
to-night?  Yes,  we  can,  if  the  heart  is  prepared. 
Just  think  now  for  a  moment  back  and  ask  yourself, 
Has  the  picture  of  Romans  seven  been  your  pho- 
tograph; have  you  not  had  to  say,  "That  is  exactly 
my  condition?''  Give  answer.  When  the  man 
cries,  here:  "'To  will  is  present  with  me,  but  how  to 
perform  I  know  not,"  has  not  that  been  true  of  your 
life  very  largely?  Come,  say  so  if  it  is  before  God. 
And  say,  "Alas!  alas!  too  much  that  has  been  my 
life."  Well,  do  you  want  to  remain  in  that  con- 
dition? Or,  would  you  love  to  come  to  a  life  in 
which  God  will  work  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do, 
so  that  when  God  makes  you  will  anything  that  is 
good,  you  may  be  certain  that  God  will  help  you 
carry  it  out?  God  will  work  to  do  in  you  all  things 
good.  Do  you  long  for  that?  Would  not  you  long, 
beloved  Christians,  to  do  the  blessed  will  of  God? 
"Blessed  are  they  that  hear  the  word  of  God  and  do 
it."  Oh,  the  blessedness  of  knowing  that  I  do  the 
will  of  God!  Do  you  not  long  for  that  blessed  life? 
Well,  now  you  have  heard  about  the  impotence  of  the 
regenerate  man.  Don't  try  any  longer  to  flog  and 
spur  and  urge  yourself  with  the  thought,  you  must 


WHALING   AND   DOING.  191 

try  more,  3'ou  must  do  better,  you  must  pray  more. 
It  will  not  help  you  in  this  matter.  You  must  come 
to  despair  of  your  present  condition.  Here  am  I,  a 
child  of  God,  knowing-  and  loving-  God's  will,  want- 
ing to  do  it,  longing  to  do  it  and  yet  failing.  Is 
there  no  help  for  me?  Thank  God,  there  is  help. 
And  here  is  the  help,  Phil.  2:13:  "It  is  God  which 
worketh  in  you  both  to  will  and  to  do."  "Work  out 
3'our  own  salvation  with  fear  and  trembling,"  for 
God  will  work  in  you.  And  isn't  that  the  one  step 
I  am  to-night  to  take,  out  of  the  life  of  failure  and 
the  life  of  wrong-doing  and  the  life  of  Romans, 
seven,  so  that  I  cry,  "O  wretched  man  that  I  am, 
who  shall  deliver?"  and  that  I  cry,  "I  thank  God, 
through  Jesus  Christ  there  is  deliverance?"  Is  that 
not  the  step?  And  then  as  I  say,  "I  thank  God," 
that  I  come  and  present  myself  to  God,  again,  as  we 
had  it  this  morning,  as  alive  from  the  dead,  and  I 
say,  "Lord  God,  now  I  begin  to  understand  it;  as 
alive  from  the  dead  I  must  present  myself  to  Thee, 
every  day  and  every  hour,  for  the  power  must  come 
from  Thee,  alone.  When  Thou  hadst  placed  the 
will  in  me  and  the  delight  in  the  law  of  my  God,  I 
thought  that  that  was  all,  and  that  now  I  must  try 
and  carry  it  out.  How  I  have  failed.  Now  I  come 
and  present  myself  unto  God,  unto  God,  Himself  " 
We  heard  this  morning  why.  We  heard  this  morn- 
ing how,  in  thanksgiving,  in  entire  surrender  to  be 
entirely  His,  but  above  all  in  holy  expectancy,  we 
are  to  say  to  God,  "This  life  was  begun  by  Thee 
and  must  be  continued  by  Thee  every  minute."  A 
tree  can  only  live  on  the  root  from  which  it  springs. 


V)2  THK   .SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

If  an  oak  springs,  to-day,  from  an  acorn,  the  oak 
can  stand  a  hundred  years,  but  it  must  always  stand 
in  the  root  from  which  it  spring's  up  to-day.  And 
so,  if  your  new  life  has  sprung  up  from  God,  it  can 
only  root  in  God  every  day,  and  unless  there  is  con- 
tact with  God  every  moment,  and  unless  there  is  the 
filling  from  God  every  moment,  to  work  the  do  in 
you,  your  life  must  be  feeble.  Oh  come.  Christian, 
and  say,  though  God  regenerated  me,  and  gave  me 
a  new  heart  and  a  new  will,  that  is  not  enough. 
God  must  give  me,  and  He  will  give  me,  the  power 
to  carry  out  the  new  will.  God  will  do  it.  Oh 
come,  let  us  surrender  ourselves  to  God  this  very 
night,  and  enter  into  a  covenant  with  Him.  Dear 
friends,  let  us  come.  Let  us  plead  for  pardon,  let  us 
surrender  ourselves  and  trust  for  mercy.  I  do  not 
know  if  all  are  prepared  for  it,  I  do  not  Ijnow  if  the 
majority  are  prepared  for  it.  But  if  there  were  only 
ten  souls  here,  to-night,  who  have  begun  to  say,  "I 
see  there  is  a  second  blessing,  I  see  there  is  a  life  of 
liberty  and  victory,  I  see  there  is  a  life,  not  only  of 
willing,  but  of  actual  performance,  I  see  there  is  a 
life  of  power,  in  which  the  Holy  Ghost  comes  and 
enables  a  man  to  do  God's  will;  I  want  that  life,'' 
let  them  say,  "Lord,  accept  of  me.  Lord,  fulfill  now 
in  me,  Thy  word.  I  believe  Thou  wilt  henceforth 
work  in  me  to  will  and  to  do.     Amen. 


YIELD  YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  193 


J^tel&  l^ourselves  mnto  GoO." 


It  is  of  great  consequence  that  we  keep  very  clear- 
ly before  our  eyes  what  the  object  of  our  gathering" 
is.  We  look  at  the  state  of  God's  church,  at  the 
great  majority  of  Christians,  and  hear  them  com- 
plain of  their  feebleness  and  continual  failure,  and 
we  want  to  ask  the  question,  Is  there  not,  in  God's 
word,  sufficient  provision  to  enable  a  child  of  God  to 
live  a  spiritual,  humble  life  of  victory  all  along  the 
line  ?  We  want  to  ask  this  question  regarding  our- 
selves. So  many  of  us  have  to  say,  *'I  know  that 
Christ  is  an  Almighty  Saviour.  That  I  believe,  but 
He  does  not  prove  to  bean  Almighty  Saviour  to  me." 
Is  that  not  the  position  toward  God  many  of  us  oc- 
cupy. There  are  elementary  truths  that  we  think 
we  can  live  by.  What  there  is  in  God's  word  for 
making  strong  Christians  has  been  too  often  re- 
garded as  applicable  to  the  few  who  we  think  are 
called  to  a  special  service.  And  so  many  want  to 
get  all  the  religion  and  happiness  they  can  with  as 


194  TPIE   SPIRITUAL  LIFE.  | 

little  of  sacrifice  as  possible.  They  don't  understand 
that  just  as  a  man  who  wants  to  come  out  first  in  an 
examination,  or  to  take  a  g-ood  place  in  a  profession 
or  business,  must  g-o  at  it  with  his  whole  heart,  and 
give  his  time  and  strength  to  it,  so  religion  requires 
a  man  to  give  up  everything  to  know  God  in  Christ. 
Your  first  business  is  to  be  a  man  of  God  as  God 
wants  you  to  be.  You  will  never  regret  it.  We 
cannot  be  first-rate,  thoroughgoing  Christians  with- 
out giving  a  great  deal  of  concentrated,  intense  at- 
tention to  it,  and  waiting  on  God  to  make  us  as 
Christ  was.  Christ  did  not  become  what  He  was 
without  giving  up  everything;  the  twelve  apostles 
had  to  give  up  everything.  Dear  friends,  if  we  give 
up  ourselves  entirely  to  God's  training  then  we  can 
become  strong  Christians. 

When  I  look  upon  the  state  of  the  church  in  Eng- 
land and  elsewhere,  I  feel  sure  that  God  will  have  to 
call  out  a  number  of  people  to  separate  themselves 
from  everything,  give  themselves  up  entirely,  just 
as  Jesus  did,  to  getting  the  fullest  possible  experi- 
ence of  the  love  and  will  of  God;  through  such  men 
God  will  be  able  to  bless  His  other  children.  God 
comes  to  this  company  with  the  question.  Are  you 
desirous  to  be,  and  to  do,  and  to  have,  the  very  ut- 
most that  God  can  give  you  ?  There  are  some  hearts 
who  say,  Yes.  I  invite  you  to  listen  to  a  portion  of 
God's  word  that  you  all  know.  You  will  find  the 
words  in  Rom.  6: 13.  Bible  students  know  that  this 
text  is  found  in  the  second  of  the  four  great  divis- 
ions of  the  Epistle  to  the  Romans.  The  first  divis- 
ion, from  1: 16  to  5:  11,  7'ighteousness  by  faith.     The 


YIELD   YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  195 

second  division  is  from  Chap.  5: 12  to  the  end  of 
Chap.  8,  life  hy  faith.  Third  division,  Chaps.  9,  10 
and  11,  the  mystery  of  faith;  the  deep  mystery  of 
God's  purpose  and  council  with  mankind.  And 
then  from  Chap.  12  to  the  end  you  have  the  zvalk  oj 
faith.  Now,  here  we  have  the  life  of  faith.  You 
know  the  words  in  Habakkuk  that  Paul  takes  as  the 
text  of  his  Epistle,  "The  just  shall  live  by  faith." 
Faith  g-ives  two  thing-s,  faith  g-ives  righteousness 
and  faith  gives  life.  These  two  thing's  have  been 
separated  in  the  first  part  of  the  Epistle.  Paul  be- 
g-ins  by  explaining  the  righteousness  of  faith,  how 
we  are  justified.  Then  he  points  out  what  the 
ground  is  of  that  justification  by  faith,  and  that  is 
our  living  union  with  Christ.  People  often  ask.  Is 
it  right  in  God  to  take  Christ  and  lay  our  sin  upon 
Him,  and  to  take  me,  the  guilty  one,  and  pardon  for 
the  sake  of  One  who  died.  God  does  not  justify  me 
for  the  righteousness  of  Christ  as  long  as  I  have  no 
part  in  it.  Christ  is  one  body  with  me;  I  am  in  Him 
by  faith.  He  becomes  vitally  connected  with  mc. 
We  don't  count  it  strange  if  we  take  a  twig  from  a 
tree  or  seed  and  plant  it,  that  the  tree  that  springs 
from  it  is  of  the  same  nature.  So  it  is  not  strange 
that  when  Adam  fell  and  died  I  should  share  his  sin. 
It  is  most  natural.  And  so  if  Christ  and  I  are  one 
it  is  not  strange  that  God  should  justify  me  in 
Christ.  But  the  believer  must  not  only  know  that 
he  is  justified  but  must  know  that  he  is  in  Christ. 
Chap.  5:  12  Paul  begins  his  great  argument  to  prove 
how  we  have  not  only  righteousness,  but  life  in 
Christ.     Just  as  we  died  in  Adam  so  we  may  live  in 


196  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

Christ;  those  who  receive  the  gift  of  righteousness, 
they  reign  in  life;  from  Christ  they  have  not  only 
pardon  and  acceptance  but  victory;  they  are  not  only 
saved,  but  made  kings  unto  God.  After  having  laid 
this  foundation  in  the  second  part  of  Chap.  5,  he 
goes  on  in  Chap.  6  to  explain  this  further;  to  tell  us 
the  only  way  to  conquer  sin  is  to  know  our  union 
with  Christ.  Justification  does  not  deal  with  the 
question,  how  I  can  conquer  sin,  but  deals  with  the 
question.  How  can  I  be  delivered  from  past  sin  and 
get  right  with  God?  It  is  quite  another  question, 
How  am  I  to  conquer  sin?  His  answer  is,  "Shall 
we  sin  that  grace  may  abound  ?  God  forbid.  How 
shall  we  who  are  dead  to  sin  live  any  longer  there- 
in ?"  Paul  says.  Know  you  not  that  when  you  were 
baptized  into  Christ  you  were  baptized  into  His 
death.  You  were  made  partakers  of  His  death.  You 
were  united  with  Him  in  the  likeness  of  His  death; 
therefore  reckon  yourselves  as  indeed  dead  to  sin. 
You  are  dead  to  sin  because  you  are  one  with  the 
Christ  who  died  to  sin.  You  say  to  an  unconverted 
man,  You  are  dead  in  sin;  you  are  dead  to  God. 
How  did  he  become  dead?  He  died.  How  did  he 
die  ?  He  died  in  Adam.  Every  one  of  us  died  in 
Adam,  and  the  life  that  we  get  from  Adam  is  dead 
to  God.  Just  so,  when  I  believe  in  Christ,  I  get  a 
life  in  Christ  dead  to  sin,  the  very  life  of  Christ  who 
died  on  Calvary,  that  life  dead  to  sin,  raised  up  by 
the  glory  of  God,  that  life  is  in  me.  And  Paul  says 
you  have  got  to  believe  that  until  your  whole  heart 
becomes  full  of  it,  and  cries  out.  Praise  God,  I  am 
dead  to  sin;  the  living  Christ  is  in  me,  I  am  alive 


YIELD   YOURSELVES   UNTO    GOD.  197 

unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  After  having-  expounded 
this,  Paul  says,  "Reckon,"  count,  yourselves  dead, 
actually  dead,  dead  to  sin;  for  you  are  dead,  and 
alive  unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus.  Then  follows, 
"Therefore,"  what  must  be  the  result,  "Let  not  sin 
therefore  reign  in  you."  You  have  done  with  sin, 
you  are  dead  to  sin;  let  not  sin  any  more  reign  in 
your  mortal  body.  2''ou  are  dead  to  sin,  but  your 
body  is  not  dead  yet,  and  sin  can  tempt  you,  and 
thoug-h  you  are  dead  to  sin  you  can  be  tempted  and 
mastered  throug-h  the  body.  So  yield  your  members 
to  God,  and  let  the  Holy  Spirit  mortify  the  deeds  of 
the  body.  "Let  not  sin  reig-n  in  your  mortal  body." 
Why  is  it  believers  let  sin  reig-n  in  their  mortal  bod- 
ies ?  Because  they  do  not  understand  or  accept  this 
truth  in  Rom.  6: 11:  "27??^  a7'e  dead  to  sin  and  alive 
to  God.  Let  not  sin  reign  in  your  mortal  body. 
Nor  yield  your  members."  You  have  got  the  power 
of  Christ's  life  in  you;  don't  yield  your  lives  to  un- 
rig-hteousness,  or  your  members  as  instruments  of 
unrighteousness  unto  sin — now  comes  my  text — 
'■'■  But  yield  yourselves  unto  God  as  alive  f^'om  the 
dead.,  and  your  members  as  instruments  of  righteous- 
ness unto  God.-^  If  the  believer  wants  to  know  what 
is  the  position  he  has  to  take  before  God  to  know 
whether  he  can  conquer  sin,  he  will  find  it  in  these 
words,  ' '  Present  yourselves  unto  God  as  alive  from 
the  dead,  and  present  your  members  as  instruments 
of  righteousness  unto  God."  Paul  will  show  in  the 
7th  chapter  that  even  when  I  am  dead  to  sin  I  may 
be  tempted  to  get  into  a  leg"al  state,  and  by  self-ef- 
fort and  self-strug-gling  may  begin  tr}' ing  to  fulfill 


198  THE   SPIRITUAI,    LIFE. 

the  law;  but  it  will  be  utter  failure.  He  will  then 
take  us  on  to  the  8th  chapter,  and  will  show  us  that 
by  the  Holy  Spirit  all  that  is  taught  in  chapters  6 
and  7  can  be  made  a  reality  to  us,  and  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  will  make  the  death  and  life  of  Christ  a  liv- 
ing reality.  So  our  great  need  is  to  be  freed  by  the 
Spirit,  from  the  law  of  sin  and  death,  and  also  led 
by  it  to  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body.  But  if  we 
want  it  made  clear  to  us  how  we  are  to  live  that 
blessed  life  in  the  Spirit,  we  must  first  understand 
what  it  means.  "Yield  yourselves  unto  God." 
Present  yourselves  as  alive  from  the  dead.  In 
speaking  on  these  words  I  wish  to  answer  three 
questions, — Who?     How?     Why? 

1.  Who  are  to  do  this, — to  present  themselves 
unto  God  as  alive  from  the  dead?  This  is  the  les- 
son, "Present  yourselves  unto  God  as  alive  from 
the  dead."  A  man  can  truly  present  or  yield  him- 
self to  God  only  as  he  knows  he  is  alive  from  the 
dead.  If  a  man  thinks  he  is  a  Christian,  but  that 
the  larger  part  of  his  nature  is  sin,  that  there  is  a 
little  spark  of  life  amid  a  mass  of  what  is  sinful,  he 
cannot  make  a  properpresentationof  himself  to  God. 
The  secret  and  the  strength  of  your  yielding  your- 
self to  God  lies  in  this:  /  am  alive  from  the  dead. 
Many  people  trouble  themselves  greatly  to  appre- 
hend intellectually  the  expression,  "Dead  to  sin 
and  alive  unto  God  in  Christ  Jesus."  Let  us  far 
rather  accept  it  in  the  faith  that  God  knows  its  full 
meaning,  and  obey  the  injunction  of  our  text,  to 
present  ourselves  to  God  as  alive  from  the  dead. 
You  can  understand  that  if  I  am  alive  from  the  dead 


YIELD   YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  199 

then  it  is  no  more  than  right,  and  indeed  the  only 
rig-ht  thing-  that  I  should  say,  "Lord,  I  have  got 
this  life  from  Thee;  I  cannot  keep  it  or  maintain  it, 
I  come  to  Thee  with  it."  However  much  of  dark- 
ness or  ignorance,  dear  believer,  do  come  and  say, 
"Lord  God,  this  is  all  Thy  life;  Thou  hast  given  it 
me  to  Christ;  it  is  Thine  own  life,  I  present  it  unto 
Thee;  I  yield  myself  unto  Thee  as  alive  Jrom  the 
dead.''''  Present  yourselves  unto  God.  You  know 
what  I  said  yesterday  morning  about  Christ  bring- 
ing us  unto  God.  That  is  the  same  thing  in  an- 
other form.  The  whole  object  of  Christ's  work  is 
to  bring  us  near  to  God.  And  the  first  thing  the 
apostle  gives  us  to  do,  when  he  has  taught  us  how, 
after  dying  with  Christ,  we  have  been  raised  with 
Him,  is  to  come  with  this  new  life  arid  bring  it  unto 
God.  The  object  for  which  Christ  died  was  to  get 
us  very  near  to  God  and  into  fellowship  with  Him. 
Present  yourselves  unto  God.  How  often  have  I 
to  do  it?  It  must  be  every  moment.  It  must  become 
a  habit  of  my  life.  I  have  to  do  it  every  day,  until 
the  consciousness  takes  possession  of  me,  I  have  a 
divine  life  from  God;  I  bring  it  to  God  because  God 
does  not  give  me  life  in  myself  that  I  can  have  as  a 
possession,  that  I  have  as  my  own,  but  as  His  life 
working  in  me  only  so  far  as  I  yield  to  Him  and  abide 
in  communion  with  Him.  Ye  who  are  alive  from  the 
dead,  present  yourselves  unto  God;  do  it  every  day 
until  your  whole  soul  is  filled  with  the  living  faith 
of  your  true  position.  The  everlasting  God  has  be- 
gun a  life  in  me,  and  is  carrying  it  on  every  moment 
of  the  day;  every  moment  I  can  count  that  God  will 


200  TH:e   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

maintain  it.  Don't  you  see  that  we  have  been  too 
much  guilty  of  breaking-  off  the  connection  with 
God,  and  our  life  is  in  broken  communion  ?  If  I  can 
learn  to  walk  all  the  day  in  God's  presence,  present- 
ing myself  unto  Him  as  alive  from  the  dead,  God 
will  make  the  resurrection  life  of  Christ  to  work  in 
me  day  and  night,  secretly,  quietly,  gently,  and  ef- 
fectively. You  that  are  justified,  you  that  know 
you  have  life  in  Christ,  present  yourselves  unto  God. 
Everything  must  come  from  Him.  We  now  know 
who  are  those  who  have  to  do  it — those  that  are 
alive  from  the  dead.  What  are  the  marks  of  those 
that  are  alive  ?  God's  life  is  no  mere  imagination, 
thought,  conception;  it  is  a  great  reality.  Remem- 
ber that  this  life  must  bear  two  marks.  It  is  a  life 
that  has  been  dead  and  a  life  that  is  now  alive  from 
the  dead.  These  are  the  marks  of  Christ's  life  in 
heaven.  In  Revelation  He  says,  "I  am  He  that 
liveth  and  was  dead,  and  am  alive  for  evermore." 
The  life  of  Christ  in  glory  is  ever  a  life  from  the 
dead.  In  heaven  they  ever  sing  the  song  of  the 
Lamb  and  the  praise  of  His  blood.  If  the  death 
and  the  life  are  linked  together  there,  it  must  be  so 
too  in  the  believer  here.  There  must  be  the  mark 
of  death  and  the  mark  of  life.  What  are  the  marks 
of  death?  The  death  marks  of  Jesus,  the  disposi- 
tion which  took  Him  to  death,  we  know — humility. 
He  humbled  Himself  and  gave  Himself  up  to  death. 
Humility  is  one  of  the  death  marks  in  the  believer. 
Death  to  sin,  separation  from  all  sin,  is  another 
mark.  Another  death  mark  is  separation  from  the 
world,  to  be  crucified  to  the  world.     Then  there  is 


YIELD   YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  201 

deep  impotence,  helplessness.  When  Christ  went 
down  into  the  grave  He  was  helpless.  And  this  is 
perfect  restf ulness.  He  rested  in  the  grave  in  hope. 
In  the  believer  who  is  really  dead  in  Christ  you  will 
find  these  marks. 

You  will  find  very  deep  humility.  I  am  nothing" 
but  a  redeemed  sinner,  nothing  but  a  creature  in 
whom  God  can  work  His  glory  It  was  humility 
that  led  Christ  to  the  death,  and  humility  will  be 
the  death  mark  in  every  one  that  has  died  in  Christ 
Jesus. 

Separation  from  all  sin.  Christ  died  to  sin;  died 
rather  than  yield  to  sin.  An  intense  desire  to  be 
free  from  every  sin;  the  readiness  to  give  up  life 
rather  than  sin;  counting  all  things  but  loss  to  be 
made  conformable  to  His  death,  are  the  marks  of  a 
life  that  roots  in  the  death  of  Christ. 

Separation  from  the  world.  A  man  feels,  I  belong" 
to  another  sphere,  I  am  living-  in  eternity.  I  am 
living  with  God.  I  am  separate  from  the  world.  1 
may  have  to  do  my  work  because  I  am  in  the  world, 
but  I  am  not  of  the  world  as  Christ  was  not  of  the 
world. 

Along  with  that,  another  mark  is  impotence; 
nothing  of  self-effort.  We  ever  try  to  do  something 
of  ourselves  instead  of  taking  our  place  at  the  foot 
of  the  throne  so  that  God  can  work  in  us.  The 
deeper  the  Spirit  of  Christ's  death  enters  us,  the 
more  we  shall  be  willing  to  be  nothing,  that  God 
may  be  and  may  work  all. 

The  last  mark  is  restfulness.  In  the  grave  Jesus 
rested.     He  gave  up  His  Spirit  and  rested  in  the 


202  THE   SPIRITUAL   U'^. 

grave.  The  death  mark  of  the  believer  is  deep  rest- 
fulness.  Jesus  knew  God  would  fulfill  His  work. 
As  the  believer  advances  he  learns  to  rest  perfectly 
in  his  God. 

On  the  other  side,  let  us  look  at  the  life  marks. 

The  first  life  mark  is  victory.  Jesus  has  con- 
quered death  and  hell,  and  we  are  more  than  con- 
querors throug-h  Him  that  loved  us.  Another  life 
mark  is  joy.  It  was  for  the  joy  that  was  set  before 
Him  He  endured  the  cross.  Deliverance  gives  joy. 
If  we  would  be  filled  with  the  resurrection  joy,  the 
joy  of  triumph  over  sin  and  death,  we  have  it  in 
Christ.  It  is  ours  because  we  are  alive  from  the 
dead.  Resurrection  life  is  in  us.  The  living  Christ 
is  living  in  us.  How  little  is  the  joy  of  the  world 
compared  to  the  deep  joy  of  redemption  filling  our 
souls. 

Another  mark  is  the  power  of  blessing.  The 
Lord  Jesus  rose  from  the  dead  and  began  to  bless. 
The  first  night  He  breathed  His  Spirit  upon  the  dis- 
ciples. On  the  day  of  His  resurrection  there  was 
blessing,  and  in  the  outpouring  of  His  Spirit  this 
dispensation  became  one  of  divine,  infinite  blessing. 
If  you  are  living  in  Christ,  your  resurrection  life 
will  be  one  of  blessing  to  others. 

Present  yourselves  unto  God,  all  that  are  alive 
from  the  dead.  Present  yourself  by  the  Holy  Spirit 
and  ask  God  to  make  the  death  marks  more  clear 
and  the  life  marks  more  beautiful,  and  your  whole 
life  will  be  from  God  and  before  God  as  of  those 
alive  from  the  dead.  Say,  "I  have  died;  I  have  been 
crucified  with  Christ.     God  has  raised  me;"  and  the 


YIELD   YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  203 

more  intensely  you  present  yourselves  to  God  in  that 
life,  the  more  intensely  will  it  manifest  itself  in  your 
daily  life.  A  life  out  of  death,  a  life  ot  victory,  the 
resurrection  life  in  Christ  will  be  yours  in  truth;  you 
will  begin  to  walk  before  God  as  one  alive  from  the 
dead.  With  Christ  I  g-o  down  into  the  g-rave,  give 
up  myself  as  lost;  God  raises  me  up  in  Christ  and 
makes  me  alive  from  the  dead.  Yield  up  yourselves, 
believers,  to  know  Christ.  You  aix  alive  from  the 
dead;  accept  it  in  faith.  Yield  yourselves,  present 
yourselves  unto  God. 

Second  question:  How  are  we  to  do  this?  Note 
here  very  carefully  how  the  apostle  answers  it.  He 
makes  a  difference  between  myself  and  my  members. 
He  says,  ^''X\^\^ yourselves  \xx\.\.o  God  as  those  that 
are  alive  from  the  dead,  and  jyo/^r  we7W<5^r5  as  instru- 
ments of  righteousness  unto  God."  What  is  that 
difference?  We  find  in  the  6th,  7th  and  8th  chap- 
ters the  difference  occurs  continually  between  the 
new  life,  the  renewed  self,  and  the  body  or  the  mem- 
bers. Sin  is  continually  represented  as  having- 
power  in  the  members  of  the  believer  after  he  him- 
self has  been  made  alive  from  the  dead;  so  Paul 
says,  in  Rom.  7,  "In  me,  that  is  in  my  flesh,  dwell- 
eth  no  good  thing.  If  I  do  that  which  I  would  not 
it  is  not  I,  but  sin,  that  dwelleth  in  me."  Paul 
speaks  of  the  center  of  his  life  as  the  renewed  "I." 
The  "I"  has  been  reg-enerated.  The  "I"  is  alive 
now  in  Christ.  It  is  that  "I"  of  which  he  says:  "I 
have  died  to  sin,  I  am  alive  to  God.  It  is  not  I  but 
sin."  That  new  "I"  dwells  in  the  body  with  its 
members.     Sin  is  in  my  flesh,  so  I  find  the  law  of  sin 


204  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

in  mj  members,  that  leads  me  into  captivity  to  the 
law  of  sin  and  death.  It  is  a  saved  man  who  says, 
"I  delig-ht  in  the  law  of  God  after  the  inward  man." 
It  is  not  I  who  sins;  my  will  utterly  loathes  the  sin, 
but  this  body  of  death  is  full  of  sin.  I  am  impotent 
and  am  taken  captive.  And  then  Paul  says  the 
reason  is  that  he  was  trying  to  obey  the  law  in  his 
own  strength  but  failed.  This  leads  me  on  to  chap- 
ter 8,  where  you  get  at  once  the  deliverance  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  who  personally  works  in  you  what 
Christ  has  done,  and  sets  you  free  from  the  law  of 
sin  and  death  in  your  members,  and  enables  you^ 
through  the  Spirit,  to  mortify  the  deeds  of  the  body. 
It  is  in  this  sense  he  says,  "Yield  yourself  unto  God 
as  alive  from  the  dead,  and  your  members  as  instru- 
ments of  righteousness  unto  God."  He  does  not  say 
the  members  are  alive  from  the  dead.  You  as  the 
living  one  are  to  present  them  to  God.  You  ask 
how  you  are  to  bring  your  members  into  subjection, 
to  yield  them  as  instruments  of  righteousness  unto 
God.  I  must  not  only  try  as  a  spiritual  man  to  say: 
Lord,  here  is  my  self,  my  inmost  heart  and  love; 
but  I  must  take  my  members,  my  flesh,  my  body,  in 
which  is  the  power  of  sin,  and  I  must  say,  "Lord, 
these  members  I  give  up  to  Thee  as  instruments  of 
righteousness."  Before  Paul  comes  to  the  beautiful 
teaching  of  the  first  part  of  chapter  7  he  wants  you 
to  take  up  this  word.  Prom  the  16th  verse  of  the 
6th  chapter  he  amplifies  it  in  a  very  practical  pass- 
age of  the  utmost  importance.  In  it  the  three  words 
are  found — righteousness,  obey,  service.  These  words 
occur   repeatedly.     The   lesson   is   this:  After  you 


YIELD    YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  205 

have  accepted  the  first  half  of  Rom.  6  there  is  a 
g-reat  deal  of  spiritual  teaching-  in  Rom.  7  and  8,  to 
which  3'ou  are  to  be  led  on.  But  in  between  he  in- 
troduces this  practical  parenthesis:  If  you  are  alive 
from  the  dead;  if  you  have  yielded  yourselves  to  God 
beg-in  at  once  and  take  these  three  words  and  bring 
them  into  practice.  Righteousness.  You  have  been 
declared  righteous  by  God  that  you  may  live  in  prac- 
tical righteousness  upon  earth.  Be  careful.  If  you 
are  going  to  live  as  alive  from  the  dead  do  not  sin. 
Do  not  ask  the  question,  How  far  can  I  go  and  not 
sin,  but  take  simply  what  God  says,  Sin  not.  Say, 
I  am  going  to  live  for  the  highest  righteousness. 
Righteousness  is  the  very  foundation  of  God's 
throne;  it  must  be  so  too  in  the  Christian  life.  Do 
not  seek  beautiful  spiritual  thoughts  and  experi- 
ences when  you  speak  of  being  dead  and  alive  in 
Christ,  but  come  at  once  and  yield  every  member  to 
be  nothing  but  an  instrument  of  righteousness. 

There  is  the  second  word,  set've.  You  are  to  be 
the  servant  of  righteousness.  A  man  can  sometimes 
be  in  the  position  of  a  servant,  and  yet  act  as  if  he 
were  master.  We  need  the  deep  conviction,  I  have 
been  delivered  from  the  service  of  sin  to  become  a 
servant  of  God  and  His  righteousness.  As  we  yield 
ourselves  to  God  daily  it  must  be  with  the  one  desire, 
to  keep  the  place  of  servants  before  Him.  Our  Jesus 
took  the  form  of  a  servant;  that  was  His  life,  and 
made  Him  the  Father's  delight.  That  must  be  our 
Spirit. 

One  word  more.  I  have  sometimes  got  a  favorite 
servant  who  works  hard,  but  often  works  in  his  own 


206  THE   SPIRITUAL    LIFK. 

wa}'  instead  of  carefully  obeying-  my  will.  Remem- 
ber, you  are  not  only  to  live  as  a  servant  but  as  one 
who  obeys,  who  waits  daily  upon  God  to  find  out 
His  will,  and  who  works  righteousness,  not  accord- 
ing- to  his  own  but  according-  to  God's  thoughts. 

If  you  walk  in  the  path  you  will  understand  the 
answer  to  the  question.  How  am  I  to  present  my- 
self ?  You  will  yield  yourselves,  your  inmost  being-, 
as  renewed  in  Christ,  as  alive  from  the  dead  unto 
God,  and  bring-  your  members  each  time  and  present 
each  one  of  them,  each  power  and  movement  of  your 
being  to  God,  as  an  instrument  of  rig-hteousness. 
And  your  inner  life  with  God  will  be  manifested  in 
your  conversation  among  men. 

Last  question.  Why  ought  we  thus  to  present 
ourselves  to  God  and  our  members  as  instruments  of 
righteousness.  I  can  only  very  hastily  say  a  few 
words  on  this.  Let  it  be  a  presentation  of  thanks- 
giving, dear  believer.  Every  time  you  think  of  it, 
"I  am  alive  from  the  dead,"  let  your  heart  rise  up 
with  wonderful  thanksgiving.  Present  yourself 
unto  God,  yield  your  body,  soul,  and  spirit  a  living 
sacrifice.  Is  that  not  a  privilege,  an  unspeakable 
honor?  You  may  walk  in  the  sunshine  of  God's 
love  with  God,  in  the  gladness  that  says,  I  offer  my- 
self just  out  of  deep  gratitude  for  the  life  of  Christ. 
I  am  alive  from  the  dead.  Oh  beloved,  if  you  would 
have  the  joy  of  God's  heaven  in  your  heart  praise  Him 
for  the  wonderful  mystery  of  the  resurrection  of 
Christ  in  you.  You  dead  with  Christ  and  alive  with 
Christ,  present  yourselves  to  God  in  praise. 

Present  yourself  in  surrender.     I  am  not  my  own, 


YIELD   YOUR.SKLVES    UNTO   GOD.  207 

I  have  been  boug-ht  with  the  blood.  I  have  been 
paid  for.  I  present  myself  as  belonging-  to  God. 
Christ  suffered  that  He  might  bring  us  to  God. 
Christ  died;  we  died  with  Him;  God  made  us  alive 
with  Him,  that  wc  might  serve  God.  Give  yourself 
up  in  absolute  surrender.  Have  nothing  in  your 
members,  your  conduct,  your  temper,  that  is  not 
entirely  subjected  to  the  life  of  God.  Bring  all, 
every  day,  to  God,  that  by  His  Holy  Spirit  the  death 
in  Christ  ma}'  be  fully  manifested  in  you.  Bring 
everything  3'ou  have,  dear  friends,  your  mind,  your 
power  of  thought,  your  heart,  your  love,  your  joy; 
bring  everything  and  lay  it  before  God.  Have  you 
ever  thought  of  Jesus  after  God  had  raised  Him 
from  the  dead?  If  He  had  turned  away  from 
heaven  and  gone  to  live  in  the  world  what  would 
have  become  of  us  ?  Shall  we  do  it  ?  Shall  we  dare 
to  do  it,  to  live  worldly  lives,  to  live  sinful  lives? 
Shall  we  do  it  after  we  have  been  raised  from  the 
dead?  Shall  we  not  say,  I  present  myself  to  God, 
that  He  do  with  me  only  what  pleases  Him. 

Let  it  not  onl}-  be  a  presentation  of  thanksgiving  and 
surrender,  but  also  one  of  holy  spiritual  expectancy. 
I  said,  at  the  beginning,  in  regard  to  this  life  from 
the  dead,  that  we  do  not  know  how  to  keep  it  or 
maintain  it.  But  if  God  has  begun  the  work  He 
will  continue  it.  If  He  has  given  it  He  will  main- 
tain it;  the  life  God  bestowed,  in  resurrection.  He 
will  perfect.  He  waits  for  you  every  day  to  present 
yourself  as  alive  from  the  dead;  to  bring  every  mem- 
ber as  an  instrument  of  righteousness,  and  to  have 
large  expectations  of  what  your  God  will  do  for  you. 


208  THE   SPIRITUAIv   LIFE. 

Do  believe  with  your  whole  heart,  my  brother,  that 
God  is  able  and  willing  to  lead  you  to  live  upon 
earth  as  a  living-  Lazarus,  raised  from  the  dead  by 
the  mighty  power  and  to  the  glory  of  God.  He  can 
enable  you  every  day  to  live  the  resurrection  life. 
Do  believe  that.  Only  remember  this,  you  must  in 
Christ  present  yourself  every  day  to  God  in  holy  ex- 
pectancy, waiting  for  Him  to  work  in  you,  waiting 
on  Him  in  faith  to  answer  prayer  in  which  you  ex- 
press your  surrender  to  God. 

This  brings  me  back  in  closing  to  where  we  were 
yesterday  morning.  Christ  suffered  that  He  might 
bring  us  unto  God.  Let  this  be  your  one  object,  as 
you  reckon  yourselves  as  alive  from  the  dead,  dead 
to  self  and  alive  with  Jesus,  let  it  be  your  one  ob- 
ject to  get  near  to  God.  We  want  more  time  in  se- 
cret prayer  if  the  resurrection  life  is  to  work  in  power; 
more  time  alone  with  God  for  God  to  perfect  His 
work  in  me.  Believer,  yield  yourself  unto  God. 
Let  your  life  bear  the  stamp;  ask  God  to  write  it  in 
your  heart,  a  God-yielded  man,  a  God-devoted  man, 
that  God  may  perfect  the  life  He  began  in  Christ. 
It  will  be  a  life  of  victory,  of  joy,  of  blessing,  to  live 
as  a  God-yielded  man,  waiting  continually  upon  God 
to  work  His  work  perfectly  in  you.  Let  us  believe 
that  all  this  is  indeed  for  each  one  here.  Shall  we 
not  trust  God  by  His  Holy  Spirit  to  make  it  true? 
He  uses  the  words  of  the  speaker.  They  may  be 
feeble  but  He  uses  even  these  thoughts  to  make  His 
own  precious  word  true  in  actual  reality  in  our  souls. 
Shall  we  not  trust  God  for  it?  Shall  we  not  trust 
God  that  the  Holy  Spirit  does  set  us  free  from  the 


YIEi,D   YOURSELVES   UNTO   GOD.  209 

law  of  sin  and  death  in  our  members;  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  does  g-ive  us  strength  to  mortify  the  deeds  of 
the  body,  so  that  our  lives  shall  indeed  be  as  those 
walking-  in  Christ  and  walking  in  the  Spirit,  monu- 
ments of  the  power  of  God  who  quickened  the  dead, 
and  makes  us  conformable  to  His  blessed  Son. 


210  THE   SPIRITUAL,   LIFE. 


5esus  Hble  to  Tkeep. 


In  the  second  Epistle  to  Timothy,  the  first  chap- 
ter and  the  twelfth  verse,  you  have  these  words:  "I 
know  whom  I  have  believed  and  am  persuaded  that 
He  is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him  against  that  day." 

I  chose  that  text  under  the  impressioh  that,  for 
many,  this  would  be  our  last  gathering,  as  all  can- 
not come  to-morrow  morning.  And  I  thought  that 
if  in  any  heart  a  desire  had  been  stirred,  during  our 
meetings,  to  enter  the  blessed  life,  that  this  word 
might  help  them,  to-night,  for  it  will  lead  us  up  to 
a  simple  act  of  committal  and  consecration.  But, 
this  morning,  I  got  a  request  from  some  twelve  or 
fifteen  brethren  in  the  ministry,  or  in  the  work  of 
God,  asking  me  to  give  a  testimony  as  to  my  own 
personal  experience  in  the  Christian  life.  And  be- 
fore I  speak  of  these  words  I  want,  in  a  few  short 
sentences,  to  tell  you  how  God  has  led  me.  What 
God  has  done  to  me  is  not  mine  but  His  own.  and  if 


JESUS   ABLE   TO   KEEP.  211 

it  can  help  you,  I  cannot  withhold  it.  And  yet,  I 
am  somewhat  reluctant  to  speak  of  my  experience, 
for  this  reason:  When  a  man  has  g-ot  a  clear,  dis- 
tinct experience  to  tell  and  a  very  definite  story 
about  something-  God  has  done  for  him,  a  clear  pass- 
ing out  of  one  state  of  the  Christian  life  into  an- 
other, it  is  often  very  helpful  and  very  stirring-. 
But  that  is  not  my  story.  I  was  away  in  South 
Africa,  almost  alone,  and  I  had  to  fight  and  stumble 
my  way  along",  and  owing-  to  that  I  had  no  such 
clear  path  as  I  could  have  wished  for;  but  let  me  tell 
you. 

If  I  speak  of  my  life,  my  Christian  life,  the  first 
fifteen  years,  perhaps,  I  call  a  time  of  darkness  and 
of  strug-g-ling-  after  the  light.  I  could  divide  my 
Christian  life  into  three  periods:  The  time  of  dark- 
ness, the  time  of  the  vision  of  the  light  and  then 
the  time  of  the  richer  experience.  I  was,  as  a  young 
minister,  most  earnest.  I  was  counted  a  most  faith- 
ful g-ospel  preacher,  and  I  was  diligent  in  the  enor- 
mous parish  that  was  entrusted  to  me.  I  loved  my 
work  and  yet  all  the  time  my  spiritual  life  was  one 
of  deep  unhappiness.  I  was  bound  in  the  chains  of 
misapprehension  and  prejudice.  One  thing  that  I 
thought  was  that  a  Christian  must  go  on  sinning 
every  day.  I  really  thought  that  this  was  a  must. 
As  a  result  of  that,  I  had  no  definite  expectation 
that  God  would  keep  me  from  it.  I  am  sorry  to  say 
that  that  was  my  belief,  and  then  along  with  that  I 
had  no  conception  that  obedience  was  a  possible 
thing.  I  look  back  with  shame  when,  in  later 
years,  I  began  to  see  the  place  that  obedience  ought 


212  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE- 

to  take  in  a  Christian  life.  I  remember  how  little 
I  understood  that — that  Christianity  is  to  give  up 
your  self  to  entire  obedience  to  God.  I  never  saw  it. 
And  then,  along  with  that,  I  had  no  real  faith  in 
the  keeping,  sanctifjdng  power  of  God's  Holy  Spirit 
or  of  Jesus  Christ.  Yet  I  was  most  earnest,  study- 
ing the  matter  of  sanctification,  praying  about  it, 
but  I  got  very  little  light.  But  it  was  a  time  on 
which  God  looked  with  mercy,  for  it  was  a  time  of 
great  desire  and  often  of  crying  to  God,  and  God 
hears  cries.  Let  me  say,  for  the  help  of  anyone 
who  is  in  that  state  of  desire,  that  there  was  a  little 
story  that  helped  me  wonderfully,  at  that  time. 
There  is  a  book  in  English,  '  'Parables  from  Nature, " 
by  Mrs  Gatty.  One  of  these  parables  is  this:  She 
represents  a  number  of  crickets  meeting  and  talk- 
ing together.  You  know  there  are  different  sorts  of 
crickets,  the  field  cricket  and  the  grass  cricket  and 
the  tree  cricket  and  so  on.  The  crickets  were  com- 
paring notes  and  one  said,  "O,  I  had  to  seek  a  long 
time  till  I  found  a  house,  but  afterwards  I  got  into 
the  bark  of  an  old  tree  where  there  was  a  hole,  and 
I  felt  that  was  just  exactly  my  place  and,  oh,  I  am 
so  happy  there."  That  was  the  tree  cricket.  And 
another  said,  "Well,  you  know  I  once  came  to  you, 
and  I  couldn't  get  comfortable  there.  But  after- 
wards I  found  my  right  place.  I  climbed  up  on  the 
high  grass  and  I  clung  there  and  I  wave  backwards 
and  forwards  as  the  wind  swings  the  grass,  and  oh, 
I  feel  so  happy  there.  That  is  just  my  place." 
That  was  the  grass  cricket.  And  another  cricket 
begat  to  tell  where  it  stayed  and  found  itself  happy. 


JESUS  ABLE  TO  KEEP.  213 

and  at  last  there  was  one  cricket  said,  "Alas,  I  have 
tried  all  these  places,  but  I  can't  g-et  comfortable. 
There  is  something-  in  me  always  cold  and  there  is 
no  place  for  me."  Then  a  wise  old  mother  cricket, 
that  was  present,  said,  "My  child,  don't  say  that. 
You  are  speaking*  against  your  Creator.  Depend 
upon  it,  if  God  created  you,  He  has  g"ot  a  place 
waiting  for  you,  and  you  will  find  it  out."  So  they 
parted.  Sometime  after  they  met  ag"ain  and  were 
again  telling-  their  experiences;  then  this  cricket  be- 
gan to  tell  its  story  and  to  say,  "Yes,  I  have  found 
my  place  at  last.  You  know  since  that  time  men 
have  come  to  this  island,  and  as  soon  as  they  had 
built  a  house  I  crept  in;  they  had  made  a  fire  and  I 
found  that  is  just  the  place  for  me,  and  I  got  into  a 
corner  of  the  hearth  and  I  am  so  comfortable  and 
happy  there.  I  am  sure  that  is  my  place."  That 
was  the  hearth  cricket.  And  then  the  application 
that  the  book  made  was  this:  That  when  God  has 
created  a  need,  He  will  fulfil  it.  Oh,  if  there  are 
any  hungry  and  thirsty  souls,  walking-  in  darkness 
and  strug-g-ling  along-,  and  saying  they  cannot  un- 
derstand it,  or  trying  to  understand  it,  and  complain- 
ing that  they  can't  reach  it,  I  say  to  them,  lift  up 
your  hearts  to  God  in  trust.  The  God  that  created 
your  heart  for  Himself,  and  the  God  that  made  you 
His  child  in  Christ;  He  will  provide  for  your  holi- 
ness if  you  will  trust  Him  more.  Look  away  from 
all  teaching.  Use  it  as  a  help  when  you  can,  but 
look  away  from  it  to  the  living  God.  He  made  you 
and  He  can  make  you  holy. 
Well,  as  I  said,  I  suppose  for  fifteen  years  after 


214  THE    SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

my  conversion,  I  went  on,  and  then  came  the  time 
when,  in  England,  there  was  a  g"reat  stir  about  the 
higfher  life,  and  I  g"ot  some  of  these  books  and  the}^ 
helped  me  wonderfully,  and  I  then  beg^an  to  say, 
"Yes,  there  is  a  better  life."  It  was  at  that  time, 
now  thirty  years  ag-o,  in  a  time  of  revival  in  my 
Dutch  parish  in  Worcester,  South  Africa,  that  1 
wrote  "Abide  in  Christ"  in  Dutch.  It  was  not,  per- 
haps, exactly  the  same  as  now,  but  the  substance.  It 
was  at  that  time  that  my  heart  was  feeling-  after  the 
truth  and  beginning  to  find  it,  beginning  to  get  hold 
of  something — a  little  of  the  blessed  experience  of 
better  knowledge  of  God  and  of  more  trust  in  Him. 
And  yet  I  have  to  confess  with  shame  that,  at  that 
time,  I  often  stumbled.  One  thing  was,  I  had  never 
been  taught  the  absolute  necessity,  the  supreme  im- 
portance of  literal,  immediate,  actual  obedience  to 
God.  Some  one  said  to  me,  about  that  book,  "I 
think  you  have  put  it  more  from  the  privilege  side 
than  from  the  duty  side."  Perhaps  that  is  true.  I 
had  not,  at  that  time,  sufficiently  seen  the  call  to 
absolute  obedience.  So  it  went  on,  year  after  year. 
I  enjoyed  more  of  God,  I  enjoyed  more  rest,  I  en- 
joyed more  peace,  I  got  more  victory,  and  I  learned 
to  trust  God  more.  The  path  God  led  me  in  was 
not  that  of  one  decisive  crisis,  but  step  by  step. 
Mind,  I  have  great  faith  that  God  is  willing  to  take 
a  man  in  by  a  sudden  step,  by  a  crisis  in  his  life, 
and  I  count  it  a  very  blessed  thing,  and  I  think  the 
reason  that  God  did  not  take  me  in  that  way  was 
simply  that  I  was  not  properly  instructed.  I  had 
no  Christian   friends  of    experience  around  me  to 


JESUS   ABLE  TO   KEEP.  215 

help,  and  when  j'ou  haven't  an}-  help  in  that  way, 
you  often  fail  on  some  little  point  of  obedience  or 
faith,  and  then  3'ou  fall  back  ag"ain.  But  then  God 
led  me  on,  in  His  great  mercy,  I  at  times  failing,  yet 
at  times  in  great  peace,  till  later  on, — it  would  be 
difficult  to  sa}',  exactly  how  long,  for  there  was  no 
actual  transition — I  can  see  that  when  I  contrast 
the  last  fifteen  j-ears  of  my  life  with  the  first  fifteen, 
I  praise  God  for  a  very  great  difference.  And  what 
I  praise  God  for  is  this:  the  rest  of  faith.  I  can  see 
that  He  has  taught  me  to  rest  in  Him  and  to  trust 
Him  and  to  believe,  even  if  my  faith  does  not  always 
rise  to  its  fullest  height,  but  yet  to  continue  in  the 
abiding  belief  that  my  God  is  working  in  me;  that 
my  God  loves  me,  with  a  wonderful  love,  and  that 
as  I  j'ield  entirely  to  Him  He  will  do  a  perfect  work 
in  me.  Oh  friends,  that  is  what  we  need,  to-night, 
those  who  hav^en't  it.  To  come  into  that  rest,  that 
rest  with  God,  which  leaves  everything  with  Him. 
And  what  God  has  done  more  for  me  is  this: 
He  has  helped  me,  I  trust  to  greater  and  more  con- 
tinued obedience.  I  do  not  say  it  is  perfect,  but  by 
the  grace  of  God  I  have  learned  to  do  His  will,  and 
to  do  it  as  a  thing  unto  Himself,  personally,  and  I 
have  found  the  peace  and  blessing  of  it.  One  thing- 
more.  It  has  pleased  God  to  use  my  labors  for  the 
helping  of  His  children,  out  in  the  land  where  Hive 
and  elsewhere,  and  I  cannot  sufficiently  praise  His 
goodness  that  it  has  pleased  Him  to  use  me  as  a 
vessel,  an  earthen,  empty,  broken  vessel,  into  which 
He  has  poured  out  His  life  and  of  His  love,  and  of 
the  living  water  to  bring"  to  others.       There  is  my 


216  run  SPIRITUAL  life. 

simple,  short  testimony.  There  was  a  time,  a  third 
of  my  Christian  life,  that  was  in  great  darkness; 
there  was  perhaps  another  third  seeking  God  and 
the  light  and  rejoicing  in  it  and  yet  not  getting  full 
access;  another  third  in  which  God  has  brought  me 
out  deeper  into  the  enjoyment  of  His  life  and  His 
love — praised  be  His  holy  name. 

And  now,  with  these  few  words,  I  got  courage  to 
say  them  because  I  find  that  Paul  here  gives  a  per- 
sonal testimony.  And  what  Paul  testifies  is  this: 
He  says,  "I  commit  everything  to  God."  Oh,  there 
have  been  times  in  my  life  when  I  have  understood 
what  that  was  and  experienced  it  on  the  strength  of 
that  word.  He  committed  himself  to  Christ  and  then 
he  looked  up  and  he  saw  Christ,  able,  in  His  mighty 
power,  to  keep  him  and  he  said,  "Praise  God  for  an 
Almighty  Christ."  And  then  when  he  had  com- 
mitted himself,  he  trusted  Christ  to  accept  him,  and 
he  trusted  Christ,  also,  to  keep  him.  That  is  what 
he  says  here,  "I  know  Him,  in  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved, and  I  am  persuaded,  I  am  confident,  that  He 
is  able  to  keep,  and  that  He  does  keep  that  which  I 
have  committed  unto  Him  unto  that  day."  Dear 
friends,  I  feel  it  is  an  unutterably  solemn  thing  to 
to  have  this  last  meeting  this  evening.  I  feel,  very 
deeply,  what  an  awfully  solemn  thing  it  is  to  speak  to 
God's  people  about  alif  e  of  holiness  and  not  really  help 
them  up  into  it.  I  feel,  very  deeply,  how  little  I  am 
able  to  speak  aright  about  the  sin  and  the  low  state 
of  God's  people.  I  feel  how  little  I  am  able  to  show 
them  what  the  unbelief  and  the  want  of  righteous- 
ness and  the  fruitlessness  of  that  mixed  life  which 


JKSUS   ABLE   TO   KEEP.  217 

SO  many  live.  I  feel  what  a  solemn  thing-  it  is,  that 
t  am  not  able  to  sound  the  trumpet  as  I  oug-ht  to 
and  to  awaken  them  out  of  sleep  and  to  call  them 
and  to  make  them  feel,  "Man,  3'ou  can't  live  one  da}' 
longer  in  this  low  carnal  life,  you  must  come  out 
undividedly,  for  Christ."  Oh,  that  I  could  sound 
the  trumpet.  I  feel,  above  all,  how  helpless  I  am  to 
speak,  to-night,  what  I  thought  to  speak,  about  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  He  is  ready,  in  His  almighty 
love  and  power,  to  take  hold  of  every  child  of  God 
in  this  house,  however  far  back  or  low  down  he  is, 
if  he  will  give  himself  into  His  almight}^  keeping. 
May  God  Himself  exalt  His  blessed  Son  in  the  midst 
of  us  to-night. 

I  want  to  speak  about  three  points:  What  it  is  to 
commit  ourselves  to  Christ;  what  it  is  to  know  Him 
as  an  almighty  keeper,  and  what  it  is  to  be  assured 
that  He  will  keep  us.  Shall  we  not,  before  we  speak 
further,  unite  in  quiet  prayer  to  God  for  His  Holy 
Spirit. 

(Prayer.) 

You  know  the  words  of  the  text,  "I  know  Him, 
whom  I  have  believed,  and  I  am  persuaded  that  He 
is  able  to  keep  that  which  I  have  committed  unto 
Him  against  that  day."  I  said,  three  points.  First, 
look  at  this  entire  committal  of  everything  to  Christ;, 
second,  look  at  Christ  as  the  mighty  keeper,  and 
third,  look  at  Paul  with  his  confident  persuasion, 
"Christ  will  keep  me." 

In  the  first  place,  the  committal.  What  does 
thatmean?  People  have  sometimes  asked.  What  was 
it  that  Paul  committed  to  Christ?      Some  have  said 


218  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

it  was  his  life,  in  the  midst  of  so  much  persecution 
and  dang-er;  others  have  said  it  was  his  ministry, 
the  work  that  he  had  to  do,  as  an  apostle;  others 
have  said  it  was  his  own  soul,  with  his  spiritual 
life  and  his  hope  of  the  crown  of  rig-hteousness.  I 
think  it  is  impossible  to  separate  these  thing's.  I 
think  Paul  meant  them  all,  for  he  had  committed 
himself  wholly  to  Christ  Jesus.  And  now  what 
does  that  word  "commit"  mean?  In  the  Greek  it  is 
the  very  word  that  is  used  for  what  we  call,  in  our 
commercial  business,  in  banks,  a  deposit.  You  all 
know  what  the  deposit  is  in  a  bank.  I  have  a 
thousand  dollars  to  spare  and  I  don't  know  what  to 
do  with  it;  if  I  keep  it,  it  may  g-et  stolen,  or  I  may 
be  tempted  to  use  it  too  soon,  or  it  lies  there  with- 
out interest.  I  go  to  the  bank  and  I  g-ive  that 
thousand  dollars  to  the  bank,  and  I  say,  "Now  take 
care  of  it  for  me."  And  the  bank  g-ives  me  what 
they  call,  in  Eng-land — I  suppose  it  is  the  same  in 
America — a  deposit  receipt.  And  so  Paul  says,  "I 
made  a  deposit  of  myself  with  the  Lord  Jesus." 
And  you  know  that  that  deposit  of  the  thousand 
dollars,  in  the  bank,  is  mine,  but  the  bank  keeps  it 
for  me,  and  the  bank  uses  it  for  me,  and  they  pay 
me  so  much  interest.  The  bank  asks  me,  when  I 
g-o  to  deposit  it,  "For  how  long-  will  you  deposit  it?" 
Suppose  I  deposit  it  there  for  five  years,  I  leave  it 
there,  and  I  g-et  the  interest  reg-ularly.  They  keep 
it;  it  is  mine,  but  it  is  in  their  hands.  Now,  that  is 
exactly  what  Paul  did.  He  said,  "I  cannot  keep 
myself.  I  have  g-ot  a  very  precious  thing".  I  have 
g-ot  a  heart  and  a  life  and  a  wonderful  soul   created 


JESUS   ABLE   TO    KEEP.  219 

by  God,  but  I  cannot  keep  it.  Sin  and  the  world 
and  the  flesh  and  the  devil  are  all  tempting-  me  and 
wanting-  to  rob  me  of  my  powers;  what  shall  I  do? 
I  will  give  it  up  to  Christ  to  keep."  And  he  did. 
He  g-ave  himself  wholly.  His  head,  his  heart,  his 
mind,  his  affections,  his  will,  his  powers,  his  bod}^, 
his  rig"hteousness,  that  he  had  formerly,  his  pro- 
perty, his  religion,  everything,  he  g"ave  up  to  Christ, 
and  said,  "Lord,  do  with  it  as  seemeth  good  in  Thy 
sig-ht  and  keep  it  for  me."  That,  dear  friends,  is 
simply  and  exactly  what  a  man  has  got  to  do  if  he 
wants  to  enter  into  the  higher  life.  The  great 
mischief  with  Christians  is,  that  they  have  g-iven 
over  their  souls  to  Jesus  to  keep  and  say,  "Lord, 
keep  my  soul  and  let  me  never  perish."  That  is 
what  many  people  pray.  But  they  have  said, 
"Lord,  let  me  keep  my  will,  let  me  keep  my  own 
mind,  and  read  and  think  what  I  like;  let  me  keep 
my  position  and  let  me  keep  my  own  mone3\"  They 
ask  to  keep  a  g"reat  many  things  and  they  never, 
never,  can  have  peace  or  rest.  The  Lord  Jesus 
comes  and  saj^s  he  wants  all,  all,  all.  And  that  is 
the  solemn  question  with  which  I  come  to  every 
Christian,  to-night.  Brother,  have  you  given  up 
everything-  you  have  into  the  keeping- of  Jesus?  Or 
do  you  not  often  talk  just  what  you  like?  About 
this  and  that  man  you  say  exactly  what  you  choose, 
sharp  or  foolish  things,  just  as  you  like.  You 
haven't  g-iven  up  your  tongue  to  Jesus.  YoUj. 
thoughts!  Do  you  not  often  spend  your  thoug-htg 
upon  3'ourself  or  upon  the  world,  just  as  you  like? 
You  have  never  yet  said  to   the  Redeemer,    "My 


220  THE    SPIRITUAL    LIFE. 

mind,  with  every  power,  belong-s  to  the  Holy  Christ, 
who  bought  me  with  His  blood. "  I  want  you  to 
come,  to-nig"ht,  if  you  have  never  said  so,  and  say, 
"Christ  shall  have  all."  I  want  to  g-o  deeper.  I 
want  to  say,  are  there  sins  of  which  3'ou  never  have 
said,  "I  g-ive  that  up  to  Christ?"  There  is  the  love 
of  the  world.  Are  you  going-  to  say,  to-night,  "I 
am  going  to  part  with  the  world  and  to  give  this 
heart,  this  life  of  mine  to  love  Christ,  to  love  Christ 
only,  to  love  Christ  with  the  love  that  the  Holy 
Spirit  has  given  me."  Dear  friends,  3'ou  all  want 
the  higher  life,  the  life  of  faith,  and  the  life  of 
Christ,  but  remember,  we  must  pay  the  price  We 
must  get  rid  of  everything  and  Christ  Jesus  must 
have  us  all  in  all.  May  God,  by  His  Holy  Spirit, 
work  conviction  in  the  hearts  of  His  children,  while 
laskthequestion  solemnly:  "Christian,  what  are  you 
here  for,  to-night?"  Can  you  say,  "I  know  of  noth- 
ing in  my  life  that  I  have  not  really  put  into  the 
hands  of  Jesus  and  chat  He  has  not  got,  and  that 
He  is  not  keeping  for  me?"  Can  you  say  that?  H 
you  cannot  say  it,  ask  what  is  the  hindrance. 
There  ma}-  be  more  than  one  hindrance,  but  the 
first  and  chief  hindrance  will  be  this:  that  you  are 
not  absolutely  willing  to  part  with  it.  I  fear  we  do 
not  understand  how  literally  and  how  absolutel}' 
the  Holy  God  in  Christ  wants  to  have  us  for  Him- 
self. I  cannot  fill  a  vessel  unless  the  vessel  is  abso- 
lutely empty  and  at  my  disposal,  and  God  cannot 
fill  us  with  Himself  and  the  divine  life  unless  we 
get  utterly  empt}'  of  everything,  and  unless  we  come 
and  give  ourselves  entirely   and   unreservedly^  into 


JESUS   ARI.IC   TO    KEEP.  221 

His  hands.  Now  come,  to-nig-ht.  Arc  you  willing-? 
But  remember,  there  can  be  no  success  if  you  keep 
back  anything.  You  have,  perhaps,  heard  the 
story  of  a  rich  lady,  in  England.  She  had  a  splen- 
did box  of  jewelry — diamonds  and  rings  and  pearls. 
She  was  going  to  travel  on  the  continent  and  she 
came  to  a  friend  and  she  said,  "This  is  a  very  valu- 
able box  of  jewelry  and  I  am  afraid  of  leaving"  it  in 
the  house  when  I  am  away,  in  case  it  might  be 
stolen;  so  I  come  and  ask  j'ou  to  take  charg-e  of  it." 
And  the  lady  said,  "Very  g-ood."  There  were 
thirty  or  forty  articles  in  the  box;  she  took  out  five 
of  them,  in  the  presence  of  her  friend,  to  be  used 
when  traveling".  The  box  was  locked  and  handed 
to  the  friend.  The  lady  went  on  her  travels  and 
after  a  couple  of  months  she  came  to  her  friend  and 
she  asked  for  her  box  of  jewelry.  And  the  friend 
said,  "There  it  is,"  but  where  are  the  things  you 
took  with  pou?  Her  answer  was:  "I  am  sorry  to 
say  that  they  gfot  stolen,  I  have  lost  them. "  You 
see  that  all  she  entrusted  to  the  friend  was  safe, 
and  all  that  she  took  charg-e  of,  herself,  was  lost- 
This  is  just  the  way  with  us.  All  tbc!.t  you  try  to 
keep  in  your  own  hands  and  and  manage  gets  lost. 
Try  and  keep  your  own  tongue — take  charg-e  of 
your  tongue  and  keep  that;  you  will  fail  and  you 
will  sin.  Try  and  keep  charge  of  your  temper. 
You  will  fail  and  you  will  sin.  All  you  try  to  keep 
charge  of  yourself  you  lose,  but  come  and  bring 
everything  into  the  keeping  of  Jesus,  and  you  can 
depend  upon  it  you  will  never  repent.  Are  you 
willing  to  come,  to-night,  and  to  say,  "Lord  Jesus, 


222  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

I  want  to  be  a  man  utterly  given  up  to  God,  so  that 
everybody  can  see  it.  I  want  to  be  a  man  with 
nothing-  for  myself,  walking  just  in  the  deepest 
humility  and  dependence,  and  letting  God  glorify 
Himself  in  me.  I  want  to  be  a  man  sacrificing 
everything  for  the  sake  of  God's  Son  and  God's  love. 
I  want  to  be  a  man  wholly  and  unreservedly  given 
to  God,  that  God  may  do  His  very  best  with  me." 
Is  that  your  desire?  Then  I  invite  you  to  come, 
however  feeble  and  however  unworthy.  Christ  is 
waiting.  You  never  can  honor  and  glorify  God  in 
the  way  you  are  living  now,  but  come  and  commit 
yourself  to  the  keeping  of  Jesus,  and  will  He  not 
prove  faithful?  Will  He  not  gloriously  and  won- 
drously  keep  you  and  bless  you? 

And  now,  secondly:  Look  at  the  mighty  keeper. 
Paul  said,  "I  am  persuaded  that  He  is  able  to  keep." 
Oh,  the  mighty  keeping  of  Jesus!  May  God  open 
our  eyer  to  see  that.  Dear  friends,  there  was  a 
time,  when  I  was  a  young  minister — I  remember  it 
very  well — that  when  I  read  of  the  omnipotence  of 
God  that  I  thought,  well  that  is  not  one  of  the  prin- 
cipal attributes  of  God  that  I  have  to  do  with.  We 
make  a  difference,  in  theology,  between  the  natural 
attributes  of  God  and  the  moral  atttributes.  The 
moral  attributes  are  holiness,  goodness,  righteous- 
ness, truth  and  faithfulness.  They  have  to  do  with 
character.  And  I  thought  that  that  is  what  a 
Christian  has  to  do  with,  but  the  natural  attributes 
that  can  be  seen  in  creation,  wisdom,  omnipotence 
and  such  like,  I  thought  of  minor  importance.  Af- 
ter a  time  I  began  to  find  out  how  wrong  I  was,  for 


JESUS  ABLE  TO  KEEP.  223 

I  began  to  find  out  in  reading-  the  Bible  that  at  the 
bottom  of  all  faith  is  omnipotence,  the  mig-hty 
power  of  God.  I  read  about  Abraham,  how  God 
met  him  and  said,  "I  am  God  Almighty,"  and  I  saw 
that  thoug-ht  was  the  rock  upon  which  Abraham 
stood.  I  found  so  often,  in  the  history  of  Israel, 
that  God  came  and  appealed  to  His  own  mig-hty 
power  in  His  promises;  I  came  down  to  the  New 
Testament  and  I  found  how  Jesus  said  that  the 
things  that  are  impossible  with  men  are  possible 
with  God,  and  I  began  to  see  that  one  of  the  attri- 
butes that  I  need  most  in  my  spiritual  life  is  the 
omnipotence  of  God;  and  I  need  nothing-  less  than 
that  to  trust  in.  And  I  think  I  am  learning  every 
day  more  that  that  is  what  I  need  to  rest  in,  because 
the  whole  work  that  is  to  be  done  in  me,  in  keeping, 
sanctifying  and  teaching  me,  is  all  a  work  of  God's 
omnipotence.  And  then,  dear  friends,  there  is  the 
Lord  Jesus  Christ.  I  used  to  preach  upon  His  mir- 
acles with  great  pleasure,  and  I  always  spoke  of 
His  mighty  power,  but  it  was  only  later  on  that  I 
began  to  see  that  that  that  almighty  power  must, 
not  only  be  exercised  when  a  man  is  pardoned  and 
made  a  child  of  God,  but  that  almighty  power  must 
be  exercised  every  moment  in  my  life.  Every  mo- 
ment. There  is  not  five  minutes  in  the  day  that  I  do 
not  need  the  almighty  keeper  to  keep  charge  of  me. 
And  when  a  man  sees  that  and  he  reads  the  miracles 
in  the  gospels,  he  ever  says,  "Praise  God,  that  is 
my  Lord  Jesus."  Whether  I  see  Him  healing  the 
sick,  or  feeding  the  hungry,  or  raising  the  dead,  or 
calming  the  storm,  I  can  say,  "That  is  my  Christ, 


224  THE   SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

in  whose  keeping-  mj  soul  is."  Beloved,  have  you 
learned  to  understand  that?  I  need  an  almig-hty 
keeper  to  keep  me  right.  Oh  friends,  you  talk 
about  having-  your  temper  kept,  or  your  tong-ue 
kept,  or  3'our  wandering  heart  kept,  or  your  patience 
kept;  what  is  the  reason  you  have  failed  when  you 
have  entrusted  these  to  Jesus?  One  reason  is  this: 
Your  unbelief.  You  have  not  gfone  and  said,  "Now 
the  Almighty  God,  here  in  Chicag"o,  in  a  place  of 
business,  where  I  am  tempted  to  forget  God,  where 
I  am  tempted  to  be  ashamed  of  Him,  here  in  Chicago 
the  almighty  power  of  God  is  with  me  in  Christ,  to 
keep  me  all  the  day  long-."  Oh,  that  I  could  g-et 
souls,  to-nig-ht,  to  trust  the  almightiness  of  God  for 
for  their  daily  life.  You  need  it,  my  brother,  my 
sister,  for  your  daily  life.  You  do  not  need  it  now 
and  then,  on  g-reat  occasions,  but  you  need  it  for 
every  hour  of  your  life,  the  Almighty  Christ  to 
keep  you  right  every  day.  Will  you  not  come,  to- 
night, and  worship  this  Almighty  Christ,  of  whom 
Paul  tells,  "I  believe  and  am  persuaded  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  what  I  commit  unto  Him! 

Then  comes  my  third  thought,  the  faith  in  this 
almighty  keeper.  Yes,  that  is  the  most  blessed 
part  of  it.  Paul  says,  "I  know  Him  whom  I  have 
believed  and  that  is  why  I  am  persuaded  that  He  is 
able  to  keep  and  that  He  will  keep  and  that  He  does 
keep  what  I  have  committed  to  Him."  If  we  were 
to  ask  Paul,  if  we  could  ask  Him  and  say,  "Paul, 
what  do  you  mean  when  you  say,  'I  know  Him 
whom  I  have  believed,'  how  do  you  know  Him?" 
He  would  answer,   "He  loved  me  and  gave  Himself 


JESUS  ABLE  TO   KEEP.  225 

for  me.  I  found  that  out.  He  came  to  me  when  I 
was  His  enemy  and  He  conquered  me  and  He  blessed 
me,  and  He  poured  His  Spirit  and  His  life  into  me, 
and  He  revealed  His  love,  and  I  learned  to  know 
Him,  the  Lamb  of  God  who  had  purchased  me  with 
His  blood,  I  know  whom  I  have  believed,  the  cruci- 
fied Jesus,  and  I  cannot  doubt  Him  ever  ag-ain." 
And  he  would  say  further,  for  he  was  an  old  man 
when  he  wrote  this  epistle,  he  would  say,  "I  have 
known  Him  for  twenty  years,  and  year  by  year  and 
time  after  time,  in  trial  and  trouble  and  persecution 
and  deep  suffering-  and  sorrow,  in  times  of  appar- 
ently utter  helplessness  I  have  tried  Him  and  I  have 
always  found  Him  a  faithful  friend  and  a  loving- 
Master  and  a  blessed  Companion  and  an  Almig-hty 
God  to  help  me.  I  know  whom  I  have  believed." 
You  have  your  testimony  meetings  here  on  earth, 
often  and  I  often  love  to  be  at  a  testimony  meeting", 
it  has  done  my  heart  g-ood  many  a  time.  I  call  up 
Paul,  to-night,  and  I  say,  "Paul,  I  want  you  to 
speak  so  this  company  of  believers,  to-nig-ht,  and  I 
want  to  envite  and  encourage  every  one  of  them  to 
give  up  all  to  Christ,  Paul,  what  do  you  say  to 
that?"  And  Paul  would  say,  "He  is  worthy  of  it,  a 
thousand  times  over.  Worthy  is  the  Lamb  that 
was  slain."  And  he  would  say,  "Christians,  do  not 
stand  back;  come  and  do  it."  If  any  Christian 
trembles  and  says,  "Paul,  I  am  so  feeble  andsoun. 
worthy  and  so  unfaithful,  Paul,  what  have  you  to  say 
tome?"  He  would  say,  "I  know  in  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved. He  is  the  loving  One.  1  was  the  chief  of 
sinners — a  transgressor  and  blasphemer — and  He 


226  THIC  SPIKITUAL,  LIFE. 

had  mercy  upon  me  that  in  me  He  mig-ht  show  forth 
the  glory  of  His  grace."  And  Paul  would  say,  "I 
know  Him  whom  I  have  beliered.  His  love  passeth 
knowledge,  His  power  is  without  limit,"  and  He 
would  say,  "Souls,  trust  Christ,  to-night."  Are 
you  going  to  do  it?  Are  you  going  to  say  it?  I 
hear  that  man  speak,  "I  know  whom  I  have  be- 
lieved." Remember,  it  was  a  matter  of  faith.  Paul 
had  times  of  trial  and  of  darkness  and  of  humiliation 
and  of  suffering,  indescribable,  and  nothing  could 
have  held  him  up  but  trust  in  God.  He  says  once  he 
had  the  sentence  of  death  in  himself  that  he  should 
not  learn  to  trust  in  himself,  but  in  the  living  God 
alone,  in  God  who  raised  the  dead,  the  Almighty 
God,  and  so  he  says  of  Christ,  "I  know  in  whom  I 
have  believed,  and  I  have  put  my  trust  in  Him,  and 
I  have  never  been  put  to  shame  and  therefore  I  am 
persuaded  He  will  keep.  He  is  able  to  keep,  and  He 
will  do  it,  unto  that  day."  Paul  knew  that  there 
was  a  crown  of  righteousness  laid  up  for  him,  with 
positive  certainty  and  he  said,  "He  will  keep  what 
I  have  committed  unto  Him,  unto  that  great  day." 
And  now,  dear  friends,  now  we  want  to  come  to 
the  application.  You  know  what  we  have  got  to 
do,  to-night.  We  want  to  take  three  simple  steps. 
The  first  step  is  this:  I  want  to  invite  you  to  com- 
mit yourself  absolutely,  unreservedly  to  the  Lord 
Jesus  and  to  His  almighty  keeping.  I  want  that  to 
be  a  transaction  here,  to-night.  A  transaction. 
And,  therefore,  I  prayed  and  I  pray  again,  "Oh 
Christ,  be  Thou  so  present  here  that  every  soul  that 
is  willing  may  feel  that  nearness,  and  take  courage 


JESUS   ABLE  TO   KEEP.  227 

and  put  itself  into  Thy  hands."  Come,  beloved, 
with  all  your  feebleness,  with  all  your  sins  and 
shortcoming's  and  backsliding-s,  come  with  all  the 
darkness  that,  at  this  very  hour,  may  still  be  in 
your  soul,  come,  beloved,  with  all  the  difficulties 
that  are  before  you.  You  have  said,  "If  you  knew 
my  circumstances  you  would  not  think  it  was  so 
easy  to  live  the  blessed  life."  I  tell  you  I  know  that 
there  are  circumstances  of  tremendous  difficulty,  but 
— Jesus  Christ  is  almig-hty.  Oh  come,  will  you  not 
to-nig-ht,  come  and  commit  yourself  to  Him? 

And  then  the  second  step:  When  you  commit 
yourself,  the  second  step  is  to  believe,  "Now  the 
Lord  Jesus  does  take  me  just  for  what  I  commit  my- 
self to  Him.  I  committed  myself  to  Him,  formerly, 
for  conversion  and  He  accepted  me,  I  commit  myself 
to  be  kept;  He  accepts  me."  "I  have  committed 
myself  more  than  once,"  some  one  will  say,  "for  a 
new  blessing"  and  I  got  a  new  blessing,  but  it  didn't 
last.  But  I  want  to  commit  myself,  to-night,  to  an 
everlasting  keeper  to  be  kept  every  day,  every  hour, 
in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Spirit."  This  is,  indeed, 
a  solemn  thing  to  say,  but  God  is  willing,  in  one 
moment,  to  give  it  to  an  honest  soul,  and,  therefore 
I  give  my  message  with  great  confidence  and  joy. 
Christ  is  willing  to  accept  you,  to-night,  and  to 
take  you  into  His  keeping.  Will  you  not  now  come 
and  trust  Him  and  say,  "Jesus,  I  believe  that  Thou 
art  here,  present  and  take  charge  of  me." 

And  then  comes  the  third  step.  That  is  to  say, 
"Now  I  am  persuaded  that  He  will  keep  me."  Before 
I  leave  the  house,  to-night,  I  look  at  the  difficulties 


228  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

that  I  may  have  to  meet,  to-morrow  and  next  day, 
and  what  difficulties  I  carry  about  in  my  own  heart 
or  temperament,  and  I  say,  "Jesus,  canst  Thou  keep 
me  all  along-  the  line,  througfh  this  week,  up  to  the 
end  of  the  year,  of  next  year,  '96,  if  I  live?"  Can 
Jesus  keep  me  day  by  day?  Paul  says  He  can;  the 
whole  of  God's  word  says  He  can;  there  are  believers 
who  can  testify  He  can.  Will  you  not,  to-nig-ht, 
say,  "He  can,  I  am  sure  He  can?"  He  will  do  it  for 
anyone  who  will  give  himself  up  to  Him  and  entrust 
himself  to  Him.  Oh  come,  young-  people,  with  your 
precious,  beautiful  young  lives  to  live,  of  twenty  or 
thirty  or  forty  years  before  you,  what  a  beautiful 
thing  to  begin  life  better  than  I  did,  better  than 
others  have  done,  to  begin  life  young  and  fresh  for 
eternity  and  say,  "Every  breath,  every  pulse,  shall 
be  for  Jesus."  Come,  to-night.  Come,  you  who 
are  farther  on  in  the  path  of  life,  you  men  in  the 
midst  of  business,  you  women  in  the  cares  of  the 
daily  life.  Come,  oh  come,  to-night.  Let  us  all 
come  to  our  God  in  Christ.  Come  and  look  at  your 
life;  then  gaze  at  Christ  and  His  keeping,  and  come 
and  trust  Him,  to-night,  to  do  it.  Old  men  and  old 
women,  I  call  upon  every  Christian,  and  if  there  are 
unconverted  people  here,  who  have  never  done  it, 
they  can  come  with  us,  and  they  can  begin,  to-night, 
and  say,  "Christ,  Thou  wouldst  have  me  holy;  if 
Thou  wilt  make  me  holy,  and  if  Thou  wilt  keep  me 
day  by  day,  to-night  I  will  give  up  my  soul  into  the 
hands  of  my  Creator."  Come,  to-night!  You  know 
how  there  have  been  times  of  war,  when  a  town  was 
in  danger  of  being  attacked,   that  people  would 


JESUS  ABLE  TO   KEEP.  229 

bring-  to  the  bank  their  valuables  to  be  taken  care  of. 
It  would  be  said,  "Let  all  who  are  afraid  bring- their 
gold  and  silver  plate  or  anything-  that  they  have  and 
have  it  locked  up  in  the  bank."  People  came  and 
the  doors  were  set  open  and  everyone  brought  his 
treasures  and  got  them  safely  locked,  in  case  their 
houses,  outside  might  be  burned  down  or  broken 
open.  And,  oh  friends,  I  say,  to-night;  Christ,  the 
great  manager  of  the  heavenly  bank,  of  the  heavenly 
place  of  refuge,  the  great  keeper  of  the  treasures  of 
God,  flings  the  door  wide  open.  His  arms  are  out- 
stretched and  His  heart  is  open  and  He  is  looking 
out  to  see  who  will  commit  himself  to  His  keeping. 
Who  will  give  Him  what  His  heart  longs  for?  Who 
will  come,  to-night  and  trust  all  that  is  precious  in 
life  to  his  Almighty  Lord?  Who  will  come,  to- 
night, and  give  up  His  whole  life  into  the  keeping 
of  Jesus,  in  the  confidence  that  He  will  keep  it  safe? 
Come,  let  us  do  it  now.  Let  us  bow  our  heads  in 
prayer. 


230  THE   SPIRITUAL   UFE. 


Ube  Xite  of  iRceU 


Now,  this  morning- 1  want  to  take  one  of  the  very 
simplest  thoughts  of  God's  word  as  the  subject  of 
my  address.  We  have  been  speaking-  for  two  weeks 
about  the  spiritual  life,  but  you  know  where  the 
spiritual  life  is  to  be  put  into  practice — in  the  every- 
day life.  And  to-day,  therefore,  I  want  to  come 
down  very  low,  to  the  level  of  our  everyday  Chris- 
tianity. It  is  in  the  rush  of  daily  life  that  the  pres- 
ence of  God  is  to  be  experienced,  and  His  power  to  be 
proved.  We  began  last  week  by  speaking  about  the 
work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.  I  tried  to  point  out  to  you 
what  God  intends  that  Spirit  to  be  in  your  daily  life, 
in  your  walk  as  holy  and  spiritually  minded  men,  in 
a  walk  in  love  and  humility.  I  tried  to  point  what 
the  great  hindrances  are  to  a  spiritual  life,  especially 
self.  I  tried  to  point  out  what  the  blessedness  is, 
that  will  come  if  we  give  ourselves  to  the  leading  of 
the  Spirit  and  what  the  object  is  for  which  we  are 
to  seek  it.     Then  we   came,    this  week,  to  speak 


THE   LIFE   OF   REST.  231 

about  the  work  of  Christ.  I  beg-an  b}-  pointing-  out 
that  His  great  work  is  just  to  bring  us  very  near  to 
God,  and  how  I  believe  that  this  is  a  great  want  in 
the  church  of  Christ;  we  need  more  of  God,  more 
humble  waiting-  upon  God  in  our  private  prayer  and 
worship,  and  in  public  services.  God  must  take  the 
first  place  in  everything;  we  must  take  time  to  wait 
upon  God  for  God  to  take  that  place  in  our  souls.  I 
then  spoke  about  how  Christ  came  to  exhibit  just 
this  one  thing-,  a  life  of  absolute  dependence  upon 
God.  He  came  to  reveal  to  us  that  God  was  every- 
thing to  Him.  We  spoke  of  other  parts  of  His  work, 
and  last  night  we  closed  by  speaking-  about  Jesus 
Christ  in  His  blessed  work  as  an  Almightj^  Keeper, 
and  ended  by  a  consecration  meeting-  in  which  we 
g-ave  up  ourselves  to  Him;  God  g-rant  that  many  souls 
may  know  what  it  is  that  the  Everlasting-  God  is 
keeping  them.  And  now  we  have  to  g-o  away  to  our 
daily  life,  our  homes,  our  business,  our  studies,  our 
duties,  and  all  of  )'ou  know  by  experience  that  it  is 
just  there  that  the  failure  comes  in.  It  is  all  right 
in  my  closet  and  it  is  all  rig-ht  in  my  worship  and  all 
right  in  my  work  when  I  am  speaking  for  Christ, 
but  oh,  the  times  of  relaxation,  the  times  when  I  am 
off  my  guard  and  times  when  I  am  in  the  duties  of 
this  life,  these  are  the  times  when  failures  come; 
and  the  great  question  now  arises.  How  can  I  live 
so  that  not  only  on  the  mount  of  worship,  but  down 
low  in  the  valley  of  the  most  ordinary  everyday  life 
I  may  have  unbroken  the  sense  of  the  presence  of 
God.  Dear  friends,  if  you  want  the  revelation  of 
God  I  have  told  you  more  than  once  you  must  take 


232  THE  SPIRITUAL   LIFE- 

more  time  in  prayer  and  have  daily  fellowship  with 
God.  You  must  take  more  time  in  your  secret  hour 
of  prayer  just  quietly  to  realize  God  and  adore  Him. 
But  the  fullest  revelation  of  God  cannot  satisfy  unless 
it  is  carried  out  in  the  daily  life.  The  value  of  contact 
with  God  every  day,  and  the  value  of  the  power  of  the 
Holy  Ghost  daily,  and  the  value  of  Christ  as  a  keeper 
must  be  proved  in  daily  life.  More  than  one  begins 
to  ask,  "Will  it  last,  the  blessing  I  have  got?  Will 
I  be  faithful?  Will  it  ever  be  carried  out  in  my 
daily  life?"  Listen  to  the  word  I  have  for  you  this 
morning.  It  is  one  of  the  simplest  descriptions  of 
the  life  of  faith.  Phil.  4: 5-6— "Be  careful  (or 
anxious)  for  nothing,  but  in  everything  by  prayer 
and  supplication  with  thanksgiving  let  your  requests 
be  made  known  unto  God."  Here  we  have  a  restful 
life.  It  is  the  life  of  continual  trust,  continual 
prayer,  continual  praise,  continual  peace,  continual 
safety.     Five  blessed  marks  of  the  blessed  life. 

1.  The  restful  life  is  a  life  of  continual  trust. 
That  is  where  it  begins.  You  notice  that  we  have 
the  name  of  God  in  these  two  verses  twice.  In  the 
first  verse  it  is,  bring  your  needs,  your  requests, 
unto  God.  That  is  to  say  let  God  be  the  one  object 
of  your  trust  and  then  comes  in  the  second  verse  and 
God  will  be  a  fountain  of  blessing  to  you,  "The 
peace  of  God  will  keep  you."  These  are  the  two 
sides.  My  love  must  be  turned  to  God  and  God's 
love  and  blessing  will  be  turned  to  me.  Be  anxious 
for  nothing.  You  know  how  difficult  it  is  to  obey 
that  command.  You  hear  people  tell,  when  you 
talk  about  the  higher  life,  "Oh,  if  you  only  knew 


THE   LIFE   OF   REST.  233 

my  circumstances."  At  Northfield  a  man  told  me, 
"It  is  all  very  well  at  a  convention,  but  one  does 
come  into  such  difficulties  in  business  that  it  is  al- 
most impossible  to  expect  that  you  will  always  be 
kept  in  perfect  peace."  Now  here  comes  the  word 
of  God,  dear  children  of  God  who  g^ave  yourselves  up 
last  night,  learn  the  lesson,  "Be  anxious  for  noth- 
ing-." And  why?  Because  you  have  a  God  that 
cares  for  you.  Oh  I  wish  I  could  say  to  my  friends 
and  myself  what  I  see  sometimes.  Is  God  going-  to 
do  everything-  so  perfectly  in  nature  all  around  me, 
and  is  the  only  place  He  is  gfoing-  to  fail  here  in  my 
life?  Look  at  the  sun.  Por  thousands  of  years 
how  perfectly  it  has  been  shining,  with  what  abid- 
ing fruitfulness  it  has  blessed  the  earth.  So  per- 
fect, it  cannot  be  more  perfect,  and  it  was  God  that 
made  it  shine.  Look  on  the  earth,  at  these  trees 
and  flowers  and  the  g-reen  grass.  Look  at  the  bird, 
the  animal,  or  fish — each  one  so  perfectly  fitted  to 
show  forth  the  glory,  wisdom  and  power  of  God. 
And  is  God  not  able  to  work  as  perfectly  in  the  heart 
of  His  child,  and  is  the  only  place  of  failure  to  be 
your  heart  and  mine?  I  cannot  believe  it.  I  believe 
that  the  God  who  works  so  gloriously  in  the  uni- 
verse is  willing  to  work  more  gloriously  in  your 
heart,  so  that  your  heart  shall  be  the  scene  where 
His  glory  is  fully  revealed,  the  manifestation  of 
what  God's  love  and  power  can  do.  But  why  does 
He  not  do  it?  Because  3^ou  won't  let  Him.  Because 
3'ou  don't  trust  Him.  Because  3'ou  allow  circum- 
stances to  come  between  you  and  God.  Because  you 
in  your   heart   believe  circumstances   are  strong-er 


234  THE   .SPIRITUAL   I,IFE. 

than  God.  You  think,  God  cannot  deliver  me  from 
their  power.  You  have  not  got  fully  under  the 
power  of  the  promises  and  love  of  God.  This  word 
comes,  "Be  anxious  for  nothing-."  God  is  willing 
to  take  charge  of  everything.  Apply  that  to  exter- 
nal things.  One  may  be  in  adversity,  another  may 
be  surrounded  by  enemies,  another  may  not  be  able 
to  keep  his  engagements.  There  comes  the  word, 
' '  Be  anxious  for  nothing. "  You  know  how  depress- 
ing it  is  to  have  unconverted  relatives.  Are  you  not 
to  be  anxious  about  that?  No.  "Be  anxious  for 
nothing."  How  can  that  be?  In  this  way  alone, 
that  I  carry  all  the  care  and  the  trouble  and  the  cir- 
cumstances to  the  living  God,  and  that  I  wait  upon 
Him  until  I  get  sight  of  my  God  undertaking  and 
taking  complete  charge.  When  my  soul  gets  sight 
of  that  the  anxiety  goes  away  and  I  rest  in  the  per- 
fect trust,  God  cares;  God  has  charge,  and  God  will 
guide  me  right.  Apply  that  to  your  spiritual  life. 
I  know  there  are  those  here  who  are  in  great  diffi- 
culty about  their  spiritual  life.  They  have  taken 
the  step  last  night,  but  they  have  done  it  more  than 
once  before,  there  is  a  note  of  fear  in  their  hearts. 
Will  it  last?  I  have  such  a  temper,  I  have  such  a 
disposition,  I  have  such  little  help  in  those  around 
me.  There  are  a  thousand  things  around  me  to 
draw  me  back.  I  come  to  point  you  to  what  Jesus 
Christ  did.  He  came  to  bring  us  to  God.  If  as  His 
humble,  feeble  servant  I  can  take  you  and  lead  you 
to  your  God  my  work  will  be  done.  What  is  a  God 
for?  A  God  is  meant  to  be  the  light  and  life  of  all 
nature  and  existence.     A  God  lives  for  this.     We 


THE   LIFE   OF   REST.  235 

need  a  God  to  be  the  only  power  that  works  through- 
out the  universe.  A  God  is  meant  to  have  charg-e  of 
the  creatures  He  has  made  and  to  fill  their  life  with 
His  blessedness.  Look  at  your  God.  Never  did  a 
mother  care  for  a  little  child  with  such  watchful 
tenderness  from  morning  to  night  as  your  God  is 
willing  to  take  charge  of  your  spiritual  and  your 
external  life.  Do  you  know  this  God  ?  Have  you 
learned  to  say,  "I  do  trust  Thee.  I  have  no  anxiety, 
for  my  God  provides.  He  is  God  Almighty  and  His 
promises  are  so  wonderful  and  He  is  so  loving  and 
tender.  I  will  trust  my  God."  Who  is  going  to 
say,  this  morning,  "God  help  me.  I  want  to  have 
not  a  single  anxiety.  I  am  going  to  trust  God." 
God  will  do  His  work  beautifully  and  blessedly,  and 
most  gloriously.  Children  of  God,  "Be  careful  for 
nothing."  You  know  the  6th  chapter  of  Matthew, 
with  those  precious  words  of  the  Lord  Jesus.  They 
are  not  only  for  poor  people  who  have  no  clothes, 
but  they  are  meant  for  every  one  of  us.  If  God 
clothe  the  lilies  with  His  beauty  how  much  more 
will  He  clothe  you?  Just  think  of  that.  How  does 
God  clothe  the  lilies?  Not  from  without.  He  puts 
within  the  life  that  grows  up  into  them  and  with 
most  beautiful  freshness  there  comes  up  a  lily. 
A  lily  has  the  life  of  God,  the  Spirit  of  nature  that 
comes  from  God  working  in  it.  God  clothed  that 
lily  and  will  God  not  much  more  clothe  you  and  me 
with  the  beauty  of  holiness  and  of  humility.  Oh 
Christian,  take  this  word,  "Be  careful  for  nothing." 
The  restful  life  is  a  life  of  continual  trust. 
2-     The  next  mark  of  a  restful  life.     "In  every- 


236  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

thing-  by  prayer  and  supplication  let  your  requests 
be  known  unto  God."  Continual  prayer.  It  is 
in  prayer  that  you  will  learn  the  secret  of  trust- 
ing-. If  you  take  but  little  time  to  pray  you  will 
have  but  little  power  to  trust.  Trust  toward  God 
is  not  natural  to  us.  Trust  is  very  natural  to  us  to- 
ward a  fellow-man.  When  a  man  tells  me  a  thing- 
I  do  not  take  a  moment  to  believe.  We  are  on  the 
platform  of  nature.  When  my  God  speaks  we  are  on 
another  platform.  God  is  the  Invisible  One,  a  Spirit 
of  holiness,  and  I  can  trust  Him  only  by  the  Holy 
Spirit  coming  into  me.  If  I  live  under  the  leading- 
of  the  Holy  Spirit  my  heart  grows  larg-er,  my  capac- 
ity of  trust  is  increased,  my  eyes  are  opened  up  and 
I  see  the  glor}-  and  limitless  promises  of  God  and  the 
treasures  of  His  grace.  I  see  His  heart  and  Omnipo- 
tent love  actually  engag-ed  in  blessing  me,  and  my 
heart  learns  to  rejoice  in  Him.  In  prayer  I  learn 
to  trust  Him.  Remember  this,  "In  everything-." 
That  means  temporal  things,  that  means  spiritual 
thing-s,  that  means  great  things  and  that  means 
little  things.  Some  people  pray  about  the  great 
things,  great  troubles,  but  not  about  the  little 
things.  That  is  wrong  in  the  life  of  faith.  Some 
think  that  the  word  means,  All  I  can  manage  I 
keep  in  my  own  hands,  and  all  I  cannot  manage  I 
may  expect  God  to  take  care  of.  This  is  not  the 
way.  God  must  have  all  committed  to  Him.  One 
asks  me,  How  can  I  know  the  will  of  God  in  a  diffi- 
culty ?  My  brother,  the  way  to  know  that,  in  diffi- 
culty is  to  follow  the  will  of  God  in  simple  things. 
Let  the  Holy  Spirit  show  you  the  will  of  God  in  little 


THB  I.IFE  OF  REST.  237 

things  every  day,  and  when  great  perplexities  come 
the  Holy  Spirit  will  reveal  God's  will.  What  a 
privilege  it  is  amid  the  worries  of  daily  life  and  dif- 
ficult circumstances  to  leave  them  all  with  God. 
Just  to  say,  *'Lord,  these  circumstances  I  bring 
them  all  to  Thee,  I  entrust  them  to  Thee."  By 
prayer  and  supplication  I  can  put  them  into  my 
Father's  bosom  indefinitely.  I  can  give  them  over 
to  Him  and  I  can  rest  there  until  conscious  that  the 
Spirit  assures  me  they  are  in  God's  hands.  In  more 
prayer  you  will  learn  the  secret  of  trust  in  spiritual 
things.  How  often  we  go  to  a  minister,  or  to  a 
teacher,  or  books  (not  that  I  am  depreciating 
teachers  or  books,  but  when  we  depend  upon  them 
they  come  between  us  and  God).  How  often  we 
have  questions  and  say,  "I  wish  I  could  ask  that 
question.  I  wish  he  would  tell  us  what  bethinks," 
instead  of  going  with  every  question  to  God  and  say- 
ing, I  do  not  expect  the  voice  of  an  angel  to  bring 
an  answer  at  once,  but  I  want  in  answer  to  prayer  to 
put  the  difficulty  in  the  bosom  of  the  Father,  and  I 
know  by  the  secret  in-working  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
He  will  give  me  light  on  it  and  lead  in  a  right  path. 
Let  your  life  be  full  of  prayer.  I  have  spoken  about 
this  need  of  daily  fellowship  with  God.  I  have  put 
a  few  thoughts  together  and  had  them  put  in  print 
to  be  distributed  among  the  friends.  They  contain 
some  instructions  as  to  how  the  soul  ought  to  culti- 
vate daily  fellowship  with  God,  in  taking  the  place 
before  God,  in  realizing  His  presence,  in  taking  our 
place  in  Christ  Jesus  in  deepest  humility,  and  count- 
ing upon  the  work  of  the  Holy  Spirit.     If  you  will 


238  THK   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

follow  these  instructions,  or  any  others  in  God's 
word,  you  will  find  it  such  a  blessed  thing-  to  come 
and  bow  before  God  and  present  your  petitions. 
But  you  say,  "Is  God  not  listening-  to  what  I  say 
before  I  have  felt  the  consciousness."  Such  prayer 
helps  very  little.  "By  prayer  and  supplication 
make  your  requests  known  unto  God.'''  Let  your 
heart  feel  that  you  have  made  it  known  to  God. 
God  will  answer,  "I  have  heard;  leave  it  with  me." 
If  you  will  thus  pray  your  prayers,  there  will  be  a 
new  joy,  a  very  fountain  of  blessing  opened  up  to 
you.  May  God  make  us  all  men  of  prayer.  Re- 
member that  the  apostle  says,  "In  everything-."  It 
does  not  mean  only  about  your  own  needs,  but  the 
blessedness  of  prayer  is,  it  gives  me  power  with  God 
as  intercessor.  The  great  work  of  my  Lord  Jesus 
is  to  be  always  interceding.  There  is  no  more 
heavenly  work  than  intercession.  And  yet,  how 
much  neglected,  how  little  practiced.  Let  us  learn 
by  prayer  and  supplication  to  bring  everything  that 
might  make  us  anxious  to  God.  Here  is  a  minister 
with  a  congregation,  how  many  things  hehastomake 
him  anxious?  His  own  weakness,  his  own  spiritual 
life,  the  state  of  his  members,  some  worldly  Chris- 
tians, some  unconverted  people — how  much  to  make 
him  anxious  ?  What  a  privilege  in  intercession  to 
get  rid  of  it  all,  and  throw  it  into  the  bosom  of 
Jehovah,  and  to  say,  I  have  made  it  known  to  God. 
That  is  enough.  There  is  a  great  deal  in  the  church 
and  its  worldliness  that  might  well  make  us  tre- 
mendously anxious.  Some  are  deceiving  themselves 
with  a  great  deal  of  formality,  with  a  great  deal  of 


THE  LIFfi  OF  REST.  239 

head-knowledge,  and  the  real  personal  love  of  Jesus 
is  wanting.  But  oh,  do  not  let  us  bear  our  burdens 
and  anxieties  ourselves,  but  learn  the  rest  of  trust, 
the  rest  of  faith.  The  blessed  life  is  the  life  of  con- 
tinual prayer,  pouring  into  the  heart  of  God  every- 
thing that  comes  into  my  heart. 

3.  Not  only  continual  prayer  but  continual  praise. 
"In  everything  by  prayer  and  supplication  with 
thanksgiving. "  Our  prayers  should  be  mingled  with 
thanksgiving  for  many  reasons.  The  first  practical 
reason:  Prayer  will  be  sure  to  cause  depression  if 
you  do  not  mingle  it  w  ith  thanksgiving.  In  prayer 
you  may  get  too  much  occupied  with  self;  you  turn 
to  search  out  all  your  needs  and  they  are  so  many 
you  will  be  in  danger  of  getting  anxious.  Here  is 
the  cure  for  it.  The  apostle  says,  Always  pray  with 
thanksgiving.  Begin  your  prayer  with  worship 
and  thanksgiving.  Another  reason  for  thanksgiv- 
ing: It  pleases  God.  It  will  draw  Him  to  you.  Be- 
gin your  prayer  with  praise.  It  will  light  up  your 
heart.  It  will  make  you  rejoice  in  God,  and  joy 
gives  new  power  in  prayer.  Begin  your  prayer  with 
praise.  It  will  give  wings  to  your  faith.  When 
you  think  of  what  God  has  done,  and  what  God  has 
promised  to  do,  praise  Him  for  it.  Thus,  God  will 
do  more  every  day.  When  you  neglect  to  praise 
God  you  rob  Him  of  His  glory  and  j^ourself  of  a 
precious  privilege.  When  you  hear  of  men  con- 
verted, when  you  read  a  missionary  letter  showing 
blessing  in  His  work,  praise  God  for  the  work  that 
is  being  done.  When  you  hear  of  any  good  of  a 
man,  praise  God  for  it;  take  every  opportunity  for 


240  THE  SPIRITUAL  LIFE. 

praising-.  You  will  find  it  ever  leading  you  onward, 
ever  upward.  It  gives  a  consciousness  cf  God's 
goodness,  of  joy  and  trust  in  Him,  ever  mingling; 
your  heart  will  be  established  in  the  rest  of  faith. 

4.  "And  the  peace  of  God  that  passeth  under- 
standing shall  keep  you."  Who  is  there  to-day  that 
would  like  to  have  the  peace  of  God,  the  peace  that 
passes  all  understanding?  Who  would  desire 
it?  Are  there  any  hearts  here  that  say,  Would 
God  that  I  could  have  it  ?  Just  think  what  a  peace. 
What  does  it  mean  ?  It  means  this :  not  only  the 
peace  that  God  gives.  No;  it  is  the  peace  of  God 
Himself.  We  read  in  the  Hebrews  that  we  must 
enter  into  the  rest  of  God.  God  says,  They  are  not 
entered  into  my  rest  in  Ps.  95,  and  Hebrews  tells 
us  they  had  not  been  brought  into  the  real  rest, 
"But  we  which  have  believed  do  enter  into  the  rest 
of  God, "  the  rest  of  knowing  that  God  has  finished 
His  work.  God  has  cared  for  everything.  I  am  a 
child  of  God.  What  a  rest.  The  peace  of  God,  that 
great  calm  in  which  God  ever  dwells,  can  come  down 
into  my  heart.  God  gives  His  holy  presence,  and 
with  that  presence  the  sense  of  His  nearness  and 
His  love  and  His  great  peace.  Don't  separate  the 
peace  of  God  from  God  Himself.  God  cannot  give 
His  peace  the  way  I  take  a  piece  of  money  out  of  my 
pocket  and  give  it  away  from  me.  Just  as  the  light 
of  the  sun  is  always  coming  direct  from  the  sun,  and 
I  must  have  the  sun,  then  I  can  have  the  light;  so  it  is 
with  the  peace  of  God.  I  must  have  God,  and  when 
I  have  God  then  the  peace  of  God  as  an  outflow  will 
keep  my  heart      Who  wants  to  have  the  great  peace 


THE   LIFE  OF   EEST.  241 

of  God  ?  God  is  a  being  of  infinite  stillness  and  rest 
and  a  peace  passing*  all  understanding".  The  soul 
that  really  commits  itself,  with  every  care,  to  this 
God,  will  have  Him,  in  His  perfect  rest  and  peace, 
take  possession. 

Beloved,  you  can  have  the  presence  of  God  every 
moment,  and  where  the  presence  of  God  is  the  g-reat 
peace  of  God  is.  The  great  peace  of  God  can  be 
with  you  all  day.  How  can  I  g-et  it?  "Be  anxious 
for  nothing-."  Trust  God.  Meet  God  and  g-ive  up 
selfish  desires  into  His  bosom.  With  thanksg-iving- 
praise  and  adore  Him  and  the  peace  of  God  shall 
come  and  fill  your  heart  and  life. 

5.  Fifth  mark  of  the  restful  life  is  perfect  safety. 
The  word  is  a  beautiful  one.  "The  peace  of  God 
shall  g-uard  your  heart  and  mind  by  Christ  Jesus." 
Shall  g-uard  it.  Shall  keep  it.  You  had  that  word 
last  nig-ht,  "Now  unto  Him  who  is  able  to  keep." 
How  blessed  to  have  heart  and  mind  kept.  I  cannot 
keep  them.  The  heart  is  always  ready  to  wander 
and  g-et  discourag-ed,  with  its  fears  and  perplexities. 
But  in  the  great  peace  of  God  coming  down  to  keep 
heart  and  mind,  my  whole  nature  may  be  kept 
through  Christ  Jesus.  Believers,  I  beseech  you  by 
the  mercies  of  God  to  live  this  life  of  perfect  rest. 
We  have  spoken  to  you  about  the  Holy  Spirit  and 
His  work,  and  Christ  and  His  work  revealed  that 
He  might  bring  us  to  God.  And  this  text  comes  and 
says,  After  you  have  brought  yourself,  bring  every 
anxiety,  too,  and  every  desire  unto  the  living  God, 
and  leave  it  in  His  bosom.  Be  assured  that  as  you 
reach  out  after  God,  He  will  send  down  the  very 


242  THE   SPIRITUAL   LIFE. 

peace  of  heaven  to  keep  your  heart  and  mind  in 
Christ  Jesus.  Dear  Christians,  is  each  one  of  us 
going"  to  live  in  accordance  with  this  blessed  word  ? 
Ministers  of  the  g-ospel  who  have  got  to  preach  to 
others,  I  quoted  the  word  yesterday,  I  am  going-  to 
quote  it  again  because  it  made  such  a  strong,  deep 
impression  in  my  heart,  "The  first  duty  of  a  clergy- 
man is  humbly  to  ask  God  that  all  that  he  wants  done 
in  those  whom  he  teaches  may  first  be  fully  and  truly 
done  in  himself."  Brother  ministers,  have  we  the 
great  peace  of  God  keeping  our  hearts  and  minds  by 
Christ  Jesus  from  morning  to  night,  from  Sunday  to 
Saturday,  in  the  pulpit,  in  the  study,  in  the  home, 
in  society,  in  the  street,  in  our  whole  life?  If  not, 
how  can  we  preach  it?  God  give  every  servant  of 
His  in  the  ministry  such  an  experience  of  the  great 
peace  of  God  ruling  in  his  heart  that  he  may  be  able 
to  preach  it  in  the  power  of  the  Holy  Ghost.  Ask 
God  to  do  so.  And  you  workers,  it  is  an  easy  thing 
to  come  and  talk  about  the  peace  that  has  been  made 
by  the  blood  of  Christ.  We  praise  God  for  that 
peace,  but  there  is  something  far  deeper  than  that 
peace  that  was  made  by  the  blood  of  the  cross;  there 
is  life  ever  kept  in  the  peace  with  God.  "Thou  wilt 
keep  him  in  perfect  peace  whose  mind  is  stayed  upon 
Thee."  Christian  workers,  do  pray.  It  is  not  the 
hurry,  it  is  not  the  worry,  it  is  not  the  study,  not 
the  running  hither  and  thither,  the  much  talking 
and  much  working  that  will  have  effect  for  eternity, 
but  it  is  the  great  power  of  God.  And  God's  power 
is  revealed  in  the  world,  not  in  the  earthquake  so 
much,  but  in  the  still,  small  voice.     Christian  work- 


THE  LIFE  OF  REST.  243 

ers,  students,  come  let  us  offer  our  hearts  to  God 
and  ask  Him  very  humbly,  that  His  g-reat  peace  may 
have  perfect  possession  of  us.  And  if  we  feel  we 
have  not  got  it,  and  it  won't  come,  or  that  we  have 
lost  it,  let  us  pray.  Listen,  "Be  anxious  for  noth- 
ing-. "  Do  g-o  with  every  anxiety,  direct  to  God,  with 
praise,  prayer,  and  thanksgiving-.  Praise  Him  for 
what  He  is  going  to  do,  but  be  anxious  for  nothing. 
Let  every  foreboding  anxiety  drive  you  to  God. 
Christian  workers,  let  the  great  peace  of  God  enter 
your  hearts  to-day.  Do  walk  as  examples  of  men, 
into  whom  God  has  poured  His  own  peace,  and  let 
the  humility  and  the  lowliness  and  the  meekness 
and  the  gentleness  of  Jesus  Christ,  the  Lamb  of 
God,  be  the  mark  of  your  life-  God  help  us  to  that. 
Amen. 


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